stop striving.

Hebrews 4:6-16

enter his rest.

First of all, I want to get something out of the way. Thanksgiving is the pre-game to the Christmas season. Thanksgiving is a part of Christmas. It’s the warm-up, the stretching before the big game.

You’re allowed to disagree with me, that’s fine. I mean, you’d be wrong, but that’s fine. But for the purpose of this message, I just need you to go with me. Thanksgiving is part of Christmas. Even if you disagree, just pretend for today.

Ok. Thanks for that. That will just make everything a little easier.

I’m going to be sharing today about rest. If you were to take a look at my schedule from the past two weeks, you would laugh out loud at the irony that I’m the one sharing about rest. Seriously, look at this.

One of those weeks I had something scheduled every single night. The night before I preached this message I flew in from Florida. And I didn’t take vacation days to go to Florida, so I worked 9-5 while I was there. I’m not good at rest. I’m good at staying busy.

Sometimes this busyness is self-imposed, and other times I feel this pressure from others to do all the things. Like Christmas gifts, for example. I feel like I’m supposed to get gifts for every single person I know. Because gift-giving is good, right!? A few years ago I made a list of everyone I “had” to buy Christmas presents for, and it was 40 people. Seriously. I went back the other day to find the list and I checked. Do you know how much money it takes to buy gifts for 40 people? It’s a lot of money! And those people on that list aren’t expecting Christmas gifts from me. I just feel like I have to buy them presents for some reason.

But other times the expectations are external. Like Thanksgiving. I want to do Thanksgiving dinner with friends, but I also feel this external pressure to travel to Kentucky to visit my grandma for Thanksgiving. Plus there’s a pressure to be with Michael’s family on Thanksgiving. Of course this is a good problem to have, right? We want to spend Thanksgiving with our friends and families, but the pressure to spend it with all of them is an external expectation that pushes us toward busyness.

I’m sure we all struggle with meeting expectations of others, especially at Christmastime. Maybe you’re a parent, and you feel this external pressure to buy or make Christmas gifts for your kids’ teachers. Maybe you always drive to your parents’ house for the holidays, and this year you can’t afford it or you don’t want to make your kids take that trip again, but you feel pressure to do it anyway because it’s what you’ve always done. I think we all have traditions that we’ve “always done” that are actually exhausting. Maybe it’s that elf on the shelf thing, cookies for Santa, cooking a whole turkey, sending gifts to every single niece, nephew, cousin, in-law, and neighbor you’ve ever met, or buying matching pajamas for everyone in your family. Some traditions make a lot of sense and are fun and enjoyable, but others are just. plain. exhausting.

And what does all of this striving lead to? Do we end up enjoying the holiday season? Do we get to rest with our families and celebrate the love of Jesus together? No! We end up in credit card debt buying crap, exhausted from late nights wrapping gifts, sick and tired of our families who expect so much from us, and so busy that we don’t have time to spend with God.

I think we can all agree this is not part of God’s plan for our holiday seasons. I want us to look together at Hebrew 4. The writer of Hebrews here is explaining the rest we are offered by Jesus. The writer explains that the Israelites in the old testament never got to enter into this rest, because they disobeyed God. The Israelites, if you don’t know, were God’s chosen people, but they are infamous for turning away from his gifts time and time again, especially through idolatry. Idolatry is placing anything other than God as the most important thing in our lives. If you’re familiar with stories of the Israelites, you may be thinking, “But I’m not melting gold to make giant statues of cows, so I’m good on the idolatry front.” But I would challenge that we all struggle with idolatry, especially at the Christmas season. We strive to please others, to uphold traditions, to buy presents for everyone, and before we know it we are worshipping an idol we created before worshipping God.

But God has a better plan for us, and that is rest. Read what Hebrews tells us:

6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today.

Not after the holidays, not January 1 as a resolution to rest, not after you finally get the tree put up or finish that big project at work. God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today.

9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

What does doing our best look like? God doesn’t say “I will make you rest.” This passage tells us there is rest still waiting for us, and it’s the same kind of rest that God took after he created the world. This is referencing all the way back in Genesis when God created the heavens and the earth and the water and sky and animals and plants and people, and then what did he do? He rested. This is the kind of rest we’re talking about. A well-deserved rest. A peaceful rest. The kind of rest that you feel when you’ve been working really hard all week to create the whole freaking world, and then you take a break and rest.

I think the wording here, “do our best to enter that rest,” is important. It shows us that this is not the kind of rest where you’re sleep-deprived and so your body forces you to fall asleep. This is a rest we have to willingly enter. This rest is a discipline. Like working out or reading our Bible or practicing an instrument, this discipline takes getting used to. We won’t ever wake up one day and accidentally enter this rest. We have to choose it.

12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

Since I started working at Missio Dei I’ve started getting pretty into the Enneagram, which is a personality assessment, and I’m a type 8. Type 8s are known as challengers who are motivated by power and influence, but this means we hate vulnerability. So when I read Hebrews 4:13, “Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes,” it’s a little unsettling. I don’t like the idea of being naked and exposed before anyone’s eyes, especially if I’m then held accountable.

But I think there’s another way to read this verse that isn’t scary and intimidating, but is actually freeing. God sees everything. This means he sees my intentions. So when I’m striving to please everyone else, he sees me. He sees the effort that everyone else may not see. He knows when my heart is in a good place. And he is the one to whom I am held accountable. Not my grandma, not my pastor, not my boss, not my boyfriend. Only God. This means I don’t have to strive to please everyone else. I can focus on loving God, allow that to overflow into love for others, and rest in that fact that God is in control of everything else.

And there’s more good news here. Listen to this.

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Jesus not only sees us, he understands us, our weaknesses, and our temptations. He knows firsthand how hard it is to deal with expectations placed on our lives by ourselves and others. He knows the pressure put on us. And because of this, the writer of Hebrews encourages us to come boldly to the throne! We are encouraged here to bring our weaknesses and our temptation and our expectations to God. And he will extend his grace to us. He will help us when we need it most. He will help us rest in the midst of this busy season. He will help us lay down our striving. He will help us do our best to enter his rest.

If your calendar has ever looked anything like mine, if you feel the pressure of expectations this holiday season, if you’re positive no one would ever ask you for advice on how to rest because you’ve never rested a day in your life, then I’m betting also like me this is a huge relief to you. He will help us do our best. We will find his grace when we need it most.

So what does this mean for you? What’s your action step, your takeaway, the big idea? Here it is. Here’s the calling.

> enter his rest.

And if you’re thinking, “What?? That can’t be it!” You’re right. There’s more. Here it is.

> enter his rest. today

Like I said, this rest is a discipline. I don’t know what it looks like for you. Maybe it’s ending a tradition you’ve been upholding because “everyone expects you to.” Maybe it’s taking a couple of vacation days to spend time with family. Maybe it’s actually not spending time with family this year because the stress of traveling keeps you from resting. Maybe it’s serving at church, or donating what you would normally spend on gifts to a mission or charity, or going to Disneyland. Seriously, I have no idea what this rest looks like for any of you, because that is between you and the Holy Spirit. Just like verse 13 says, he is the only one to whom you are accountable. Not me. Not Bob. Not your boss or your spouse or your kids. You are called to rest because God is offering you that rest. The God of the universe, who created the heavens and the earth and then rested is offering THAT SAME REST to YOU!

Enter his rest. Not tomorrow. Not December 26 or January 1. Not Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Today. Enter his rest today. Because he’s inviting you to. And I guarantee it’s better than striving.

I invite you to ask the Holy Spirit what this rest looks like for you. Come boldly to the throne right here, right now, and ask for this rest. You don’t have to be at a certain step in your faith to ask for this. You don’t have to read your Bible every day or pray for 3 hours every morning or have been in church for 25 years to be able to enter this rest. The verse says there is a special rest waiting for the people of God, the people who believe in God, the people who love God.

On Loneliness

Written for Crosspoint Students and delivered June 6, 2019.

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So I just moved to Chicago to work with a church called Missio Dei Chicago, and our goal is to plant 77 congregations throughout the 77 neighborhoods of Chicago.

When I decided I was going to move to Chicago, I was super excited that God was calling me to such a cool place. Like, Chicago looks so cool, right? It makes for some really great Instagram posts, and there are tons of cool restaurants to try out, and concerts to go to, and celebrities like to go there. It’s just a really cool place, so I was pretty pumped.

When I actually moved in February, I was in for a rude awakening. My life was not fun visits to the Bean and sipping coffee with friends. It was freaking lonely. It was unpacking boxes and building IKEA furniture and binging shows on Netflix and texting friends who live hours away just to have some semblance of community. And don’t get me wrong, I love most of those things. Like, building IKEA furniture is my jam. But, uh, it’s a pretty lonely experience.

And sitting in this loneliness was really really hard. I wish I could put it more eloquently, but it was just: really. really. hard. I was so confused because I knew without a doubt that God had invited me into this new season of my life, and I knew he had so much good planned in where I was and what I was doing. But in the moment, I couldn’t see any of it because I was so. lonely.

Times of transition

What I realized later was that I was in a time of transition. God had called me to Chicago for a reason, but before I could hit the ground running in ministry and dig into community and get involved with planting a church, I had to do things like unpack boxes, put furniture in my apartment, and start making friends. In the in between, in that time of transition, the loneliness was inevitable.

As I talked to others about this concept, everyone seemed to agree with me. I had friends in every stage of life agree and say that times of transition, somehow especially when God has called you to something, are unbearably lonely. My friend Jonathan said he went through the same thing when he moved out of town for work. My grandma told me she’d felt a similar loneliness when she lived in Germany when her husband was deployed. I had friends who had encouraged me to move to Chicago reach out and apologize for not warning me about the loneliness. It is universally true that times of transition are lonely.

So when Mitch asked me to give the message tonight, I thought back to that season of loneliness and wondered how it might apply to a room full of middle and high school students. You guys are in a point in your life where you’re going to go through a lot of transitions. Whether you’re going into 6th grade, starting high school, joining a new club or sports team, changing schools, going off to college, getting a job, or whatever it may be, you have a lot of transition ahead of you.

So I want to take a look together at a few times of transition in the Bible, specifically when Jesus was in times of transition, and see if he ever felt lonely, and what we can learn from his experience.

When you feel lonely, ___.

At the end of the 3rd chapter in Matthew, Jesus is baptized by his cousin, John, and when he comes up from the water, God says “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy” (Matthew 3:17). This baptism is supposed to be Jesus’ send off in to ministry. But in Matthew, before he goes out to choose his disciples, he goes to the desert to fast for 40 days and 40 nights.

READ: Matthew 4:1-11 - Jesus in the desert

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."4:4 Deut 8:3.”

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.

And they will hold you up with their hands

so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’4:6 Ps 91:11-12.”

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God

and serve only him.’”

Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

This is a time of transition for Jesus. Before he can begin his ministry, he spends time alone in a sort of spiritual preparation. Fasting takes away what your physical self wants or desires in order to focus on your spiritual self. While Jesus is in the desert fasting, while his body is at its weakest, the devil comes to him and tempts him, telling him he doesn’t really need to be hungry, or he doesn’t have to endure 40 days and 40 nights in the desert all alone.

Jesus was following the will of God, spending time in the desert preparing to begin his ministry, and he was all alone, not to mention he was being tempted. But what do we see in this story? How does he respond? He recites scripture. Every time the devil tempts him, Jesus responds with scripture. Jesus stays rooted in his calling, in his faith, and in his relationship with his father by holding scripture in his heart, and by knowing God’s promises to be true.

You can do this, too. Before you’re caught in a time of transition, or before you’re in a season of loneliness, reading scripture and understanding God’s word can help you grow closer to him, so that when you are stuck in a difficult time, you have God’s promises to fall back on.

One of my favorite verses to recite in tough times is Jeremiah 29:11. If you know it, say it with me (and if you don’t know it, it’s on the screen so you can read it aloud).

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.

When I graduated high school and I was freaking out about what was next in my life, I remembered the promise in this verse, that God has my best interest at heart, and that he has a plan to prosper me.

When you feel lonely, look to scripture.

Another time of transition in Jesus’ life is found in Matthew 26. This is right after Jesus serves communion to his disciples, or the Last Supper, and tells them they will desert him.

READ: Matthew 26:36-46 - Jesus (and friends) in the garden

Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.”

He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.

He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?

Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”

When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Up, let’s be going. Look, my betrayer is here!”

In his last few moments with his disciples, Jesus asks Peter, James, and John to stay up with him to watch and pray. Jesus knows his time is limited, and he asks three of his disciples to be present with him in the time they have left. But they fall asleep. So Jesus goes away again and prays, and when he comes back they’re asleep again! So he goes to pray one more time and when he comes back, he knows his time with his disciples is over.

Imagine this, or maybe it’s happened to you before: You’re about to go away for a long time, and you ask your friends to come over to your house on your last night in town. You’re hanging out, maybe you’re having fun or maybe it’s pretty somber because you know you’re about to leave, but you’re enjoying spending time with your friends for the last time. But then, every time you go to check your phone or fill up your drink, you look up and everyone is sleeping! Wouldn’t you be frustrated? I’d be hitting them, like “HELLO!? WAKE UP! Don’t know you know you’re NEVER going to SEE me AGAIN!?”

Jesus, in his last moments with his friends, in this time of transition from his ministry to his crucifixion, has to be frustrated, right? At the very least he’s lonely. And he still says to his disciples, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest.” Maybe he’s being genuine here. I know if I said that, I’d say it more like, “Fine! Go ahead and sleep! Have your rest!” But ultimately Jesus accepts what is happening around him, and he still prays to God. He allows his friends to sleep, and he spends intentional time with God in prayer.

It’s easy when we feel lonely to get mad at those around us. Maybe your friends aren’t saying the right things, or your parents just don’t understand. Jesus had this, too. But Jesus, instead of taking it out on his friends, spent time in prayer. When you are lonely, when you feel like no one understands you, and no one is there for you, you can always pray.

And honestly guys, I hate this point. This is one of my least favorite answers to a big question. That whole idea of “you don’t have to be lonely because God is with you”? I hate it. I know it’s true, but it sucks! God is with you always. But that just. doesn’t. help. I still feel lonely. I still feel alone. But that doesn’t mean we’re not supposed to pray in those moments. In fact, praying to God, telling him how lonely you feel, expressing your troubles and your issues, it really does help.

When you feel lonely, pray.

The last time of transition in Jesus’s life I want us to look at together is his crucifixion. We can find this in Luke 23. Jesus has to carry the cross he will be nailed to. He’s been judged, mocked, and beaten. His friends have betrayed and denied him. He’s about to be killed.

READ: Luke 23:32-43 - Jesus forgives

Two others, both criminals, were led out to be executed with him.

When they came to a place called Golgotha, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed. “He saved others,” they said, “let him save himself if he is really God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”

The soldiers mocked him, too, by offering him a drink of sour wine.

They called out to him, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

A sign was fastened above him with these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die?

We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

I can only imagine how lonely Jesus is in these moments, being led to his death and nailed to a cross. And he prays to God, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” In his last living moments, he’s conversing with criminals who are being crucified next to him, and he says, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” In the middle of the worst moments in Jesus’s life, what does he do? He focuses on others. He forgives those around him, and he ministers to the man next to him.

When I moved to Chicago and had no friends and nothing to do, it was really easy for me to just sit alone in my apartment and wallow in my loneliness. But that just made it worse. The more I thought about how alone I was, the more alone I felt. But one of the few families in Chicago I knew was remodeling their kitchen, and they asked me to come help. So for a few hours, instead of focusing on my problems, I got to go and help someone else. I got to lay kitchen flooring and nail in baseboards and help get the job done quicker.

Focusing on someone else’s needs can help put your own problems into perspective. There’s value in introspection, in spending time alone and figuring out how you feel and why you feel that way. But if you’re lonely, don’t just sit and be alone. Go and help someone with something! Ask your parents if you can help out around the house. Ask your friends if they need help with their homework. Ask your sibling if they have a chore you can help with.

When you feel lonely, help someone else.

The last point I want to make is that every single person in this room will go through a major life transition. Every single one of us will feel lonely at one point or another. So if you don’t feel lonely right now, I guarantee you someone else around you does. Reach out to people. Ask how they’re doing. Offer to help them, or ask them to help you. We can’t solve someone’s loneliness. It’s not a problem that we can fix. But we can always be with someone, listen to someone, sit with someone so maybe they feel a little less lonely.

Peace

Message given August 5, 2018, at Crosspoint, North Crestview for Students at "Fresh Words from a New Generation" event. 

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When I was trying to write this message, I had no idea what to share. I was thinking through some of my favorite verses from scripture, some verses that have really spoken to me in the past, and I just wasn’t inspired to speak on any of them.

And then I had a ridiculous week. And I’m going to tell you about it, and tell you what God showed me through that week. This was very recent, and still very fresh on my mind, so I might get a little worked up about it, but here goes.

Go back in time with me. It’s Tuesday. After a long, serious conversation with my boyfriend, we realize it’s not going to work out, and that we need to break up. I’m pretty upset, but ultimately I realize it’s the right decision. The Holy Spirit was pretty clearly telling me that this guy was not who God has in mind for me, and I was finally ready to listen.

Fast forward. It’s Thursday. I’m still coping surprisingly well with the break up, but a whole slew of new problems enter in. I’m at work, hanging out with some interns, and I find out I’m being evicted because for a little extra income I’ve been listing my spare room on Airbnb, and apparently that’s “illegal” and “against the lease agreement” and blah blah blah. So I find out via an email from my apartment manager that I have 7 business days to vacate my apartment.

Now I’m not an easy-going person. Normally if big change is happening in my life, and I didn’t initiate it, I go a little crazy. I start freaking out, and my anxiety kicks in, and my heart starts racing, and I hyperventilate. So a break up and an eviction notice in the same week is a recipe for disaster for me.

Before I tell you sort of how this story ends, I want to share a verse from scripture with you. Philippians 4:7 says "Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” We hear this phrase a lot, right? A peace that passes understanding. I pray for this pretty often. I ask God to give me that peace.

In this moment, in this crazy week, with big change happening, and change that I did not initiate, I experienced this peace. As I was explaining my situation to people and asking them for help or advice, they would ask me how I was doing, and I would say “I’m just… abnormally calm.” And they’d say “yah! You are! What’s up with that?” But I was covered in a peace.

This verse says “His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” That phrase is really important here: “As you live in Christ Jesus.” I was living in Christ, right? I heard the Holy Spirit prompting me to break up with that boy, and I did it. I was following Jesus. I let him be Lord over my life. And I saw this verse come to fruition in such a tangible way. That peace that exceeds anything we can understand guarded my heart and mind, in the midst of an eviction notice, in the midst of a break up.

I’m not a Bible scholar. I’m not a theologian. I don’t know the ins and outs of scripture. But I know my own experience. And I know that there is tangible proof from my own life that this peace that passes understanding really exists, and it guarded my heart and mind right when I needed it most.

For most of my life I assumed this phrase “peace that passes understanding” came from the book of Proverbs or something like that. If you don’t know, the book of proverbs is a collection of, well, proverbs—of a bunch of truths like “be wise” and “follow the lord” and other just generally true statements.

But when I looked it up very recently I found out that it’s not a proverb; it’s in Philippians! Just a quick overview: Philippians is a letter written by a guy named Paul to the church of Philippi. This changes the context of this phrase so much! “Peace that passes understanding” is not just a general truth written in a book full of general truths. It’s not just something people say, like “Oh, it’s ok, God gives us a peace that passes understanding.” No, Paul had the Holy Spirit. Paul knew Jesus. Paul lived under the same covenant that we do. Paul telling us that a peace that passes understanding will guard our heart and mind is a huge promise!

So, as promised, here’s the outcome of that ridiculous week. I’m not getting evicted. I get to stay in my apartment because I have a great lawyer; I just have to sign a paper that says I won’t Airbnb the spare room anymore. And in all of the madness, I stayed at peace in the Holy Spirit. I didn’t freak out or spiral, I just kept trusting Jesus and keeping his peace. Now I was definitely scared. I worked pretty hard to find a back up plan. But ultimately I was just, like I said, abnormally calm. And I attribute that to the Holy Spirit, to God’s peace, that exceeds anything we can understand.

So my challenge to you tonight is this:

• Live in Christ Jesus.

• Let his peace guard your hearts and minds.

• Allow yourself to experience his peace.

Live in Christ Jesus. That means surrender to him. Follow him. Ask him what his will is for your life, and do it. Maybe that’s breaking up with your boyfriend, like it was for me, but maybe it’s not. Ask him what it is.

And then let his peace guard your hearts and minds. When you’re getting worked up or stressed about something, take 10 deep breaths, and ask the Holy Spirit for peace. He provides it every time, I promise.

Lastly, allow yourself to experience this peace. At least for me, it’s easy to ask God to give me peace. The hard part is to accept it. But God doesn’t want us worrying about everything. He wants to cover us in his peace! So I hope you’ll let him.

Biggest Loser Tip

Email written to all staff during the last week of our Biggest Loser competition. Jim (referenced in the end of the email) came in first place. I came in second. 

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Hello everyone! In our last week of the Biggest Loser competition, I want to share with you a few things I’ve learned in this experience.

1. It’s never too late to start

This competition may be coming to a close, but my weight loss journey is still in its beginning stages. I’m quite a ways from my goal weight, and I’m still figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t. When I started working a desk job instead of walking to classes, it got really easy to gain weight. I knew I wanted to change something, but I kept putting it off. Now, since I started eating right (I quit the exercising a while ago…), I have felt so much more energized, more confident, and more like myself. If that’s a change you want to make, don’t wait until next month or next week or even tomorrow; just start! 

2. Find what works for you

For a while I was going to Fitness US for bootcamp at 6 in the morning. I would get up around 4:45, drive down from Crestview, work out, grab breakfast at Tango 3 (Jim Wilder makes great scrambled eggs), and then shower at the church before work. While this schedule was technically possible, it’s not what worked for me. I love bootcamp, and I love being so productive in the mornings, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m just not a morning person. When my friends were done with Whole30, I decided to stick with it and go Paleo. I may not be able to make it to the gym at 6:00 in the morning, but I can handle watching what I eat. I still eat out pretty regularly because my lifestyle necessitates it, and I don’t have time for regular meal prep or grocery shopping, but I’ve found a system that works for me, and yields results I can be proud of.

Maybe a 6:00 am bootcamp is perfect for you, and maybe it isn’t. Whatever works for you, stick with it, and don’t be afraid to try something different.

3. Be willing to start over

Sometimes I slip up. I had a week where I gained weight instead of losing it, and I was so discouraged. What I realized the next week, though, is that there is no shame in starting over. Beating myself up over gaining back some weight was not going to help me lose it; I just needed to start again!

Find some encouragers, an accountability team, and a system that works for you, and don’t get discouraged when you need to start over. Progress is progress, no matter how small.

If you’ve made it this far in this very long email, thank you so much for reading! Congratulations to everyone on your progress; be proud of yourself!

Now I know this isn’t the point, but… let’s all pray I’ve had a good enough week to beat Jim!

Back to Life

Message delivered March 25, 2018, at Crosspoint, North Crestview, to middle and high school students. Message developed from outline from Orange. 

---

Hey guys, I’m Kat, and before I talk to you about important stuff tonight, I want to tell you a few things about me. I don’t want to just throw information at you; I want you to know a little bit about who I am, and maybe some of it is relatable to you.

First, the simple stuff. I lived in Evansville, Indiana, for the first 18 years of my life. Evansville is a lot like Crestview, but instead of being an hour from the beach, I was an hour from nothing but corn fields. Also we had a really cool theme park in Santa Claus, Indiana, called Holiday World, and each section of the park was named after a different holiday. 

Speaking of holidays, here’s another fact about me. My parents got divorced when I was about 10, and once I started to get over the emotions that brings, I realized something very special about children of divorced parents. Guys… we get two of every holiday! It’s great! Ok, but honestly, growing up with divorced parents was hard, and it still comes up in my counseling sessions every now and then.

Alright, last fact about me, and I promise we’ll get started. Easter in every family looks a little bit different, right? Well in my family, Easter is insane. I don’t have much extended family nearby in my hometown, so my parents and siblings and I would pack up on holidays and go over to a friend’s house for their family dinners. We went over there for Thanksgiving, 4th of July; you name a holiday, and we were there. But probably the most eventful of the holidays we spent there was Easter, because at their house, they didn’t just have an Easter Egg hunt. They had a full contact Easter egg hunt. There would be hundreds of eggs all around the yard, and these eggs didn’t just have candy; they had quarters and dollar bills. And all eggs were fair game, even the ones already in someone’s basket! Guys, it was intense.

All that is to say, it’s Easter time, right? Next week at church we’re going to celebrate Easter, and maybe you’ll go home and have a full contact Easter egg hunt, or maybe your mom will make you dress up and take pictures with your siblings. I don’t know what Easter looks like for you, but when I was in middle school, it was way more about finding those dollar bills in Easter eggs than anything else.

But what’s Easter actually about? It’s one of those religious holidays that has gotten commercialized over the years. We see the Easter bunny and eggs and candy in stores and it sort of eclipses the real meaning of the holiday.

As it turns out, here’s what Easter is about: Jesus died on a cross. God sent his son not only to live with us on earth like we talked about back at Christmastime, but also to die for us, and take on the punishment that we should have received for our sins. Ok, that’s a huge concept, but that’s not what I want to spend time on today. After Jesus died, he was buried. The put him in a tomb and rolled a big stone in front of the opening and he was dead in there for 3 days. But guys, get this — then he rose from the dead! And not as a zombie or a ghost. He actually came back to life! And Easter is the day that we celebrate that.

Ok, crazy, I know. Seems totally unbelievable. You’re going, Kat, there’s no way. But that’s what I want to talk about today. And that brings up two really big questions: Did it really happen?

People don’t come back to life, right? That’s not a real thing that happens every day. So it’s understandable that there would be some disbelief about this fact. There’s not any visible proof. Like, no one was wandering around 2,000 years ago to take pictures of the whole thing and upload them to the cloud so we would have proof today. Right? That’s not a thing!

Luckily, though, we have eyewitness accounts. We have writings from people who were there, who saw Jesus die on a cross, and then encountered him later when he was alive. Matthew the tax collector wrote about it. Mark the evangelist wrote about it. Luke the doctor wrote about it. And John the fisherman wrote about it. That’s four different men with different occupations and different lives, who all wrote about the same thing. Not really a coincidence.

But there are actually non-biblical accounts that the writers of these 4 books are indeed who we think they are, and there are a ton of different copies of these books written in different languages, and there’s no way all of these documents could line up their facts if they weren’t true.

Again, I could go on about this, but I’ll spare you. Basically, a lot of smart people, scholars and historians, have determined that we can believe what these guys have written.

The apostle Paul, who lived around the same time frame, writes this in his letter to the people of Corinth: 'I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ' 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

That’s more than 500 people who saw Jesus after he was very publicly crucified and buried. Paul wrote a lot of letters to a lot of different churches at the time, and he talked a lot about how important Jesus is in all of them.

Ok, so why does that matter to us? We know it mattered to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, right? And we know it mattered to Paul. But what about us?

Guys, the resurrection means that Jesus is who he says he is. Before he died, he told his disciples that he was going to die, and that he would be back in 3 days. There are so many promises that are made to us in the Bible, and because God followed through on this one, that his son would raise from the dead, we get to believe all of his other promises, too. That’s crazy! That’s so exciting! All those verses about God having a plan for us and Jesus conquering sin and death and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can believe there’s truth in all of those because Jesus raised from the dead!

AND John 3:16 tells us that whoever believes in him — in his promises, in what he says, in the fact that he rose from the dead — will not die, but have eternal life. Guys, just like Jesus rose from the dead, we get a new life when we die too, and all we have to do is believe that Jesus is who he says he is!

Ok, so what’s your next step? What does all of this mean for you?

Maybe this is all news to you. Maybe you’re like I was at Easter, and you’re really just in it for the dollar bills and candy. If that’s you, maybe it’s time you believe that Jesus is who he says he is. I didn’t start believing in him until I was 12, and it was actually on Easter Sunday that I decided to take that step and believe he is who he says he is. I’d heard the stories, but I just didn’t get it until then. Guys, Jesus didn’t just die for us, he came back to life! And don’t take my word for it! Go home and read to book of John in the Bible. Read what these guys tell us about Jesus.

Or maybe you already believe in Jesus, but you need to trust him. Maybe you’ve been coming to church for a while, and you pray every now and then, but you haven’t given Jesus control of your life yet. You’re still holding on to your past, your problems, your preferences. Guys, that was me until I was in college. One day I heard a message a lot like this one, and the preacher asked, what part of your life have you not surrendered to Jesus, and I knew right then and there that I needed to give up my own ways and follow him instead. Maybe you need to take a step past believing, and start trusting him to be Lord of your life, to take the lead.

Or maybe you need to live like Jesus. Maybe you believe, and you trust him, but you haven’t gone all-in. You’re cool with the whole Christianity thing, but you haven’t taken the plunge. Maybe your next step is to live a life that screams the truth of God, that shows his love to everyone you encounter.

As we get ready to go to breakout groups, I want you to think about what your next step is. Do you believe that Jesus is who he says he is? Do you trust him to take the lead in your life? Do you live like him?

How would your life be different if you took that next step? What would change? And then what would it look like if we celebrated Easter all year long? Our God defeated death! That deserves more than just one day a year, right?

12 Days of Christmas Covers

This Christmas my friend Kylee had a crazy idea: 12 Days of Christmas Covers. Basically she decided to sing a Christmas song every day for 12 days and post them online. When I heard her idea, I had to piggy back off of it. You can listen to all of Kylee's covers here, and all of mine in the links below.

This project was a lot of fun because I got to experiment a lot with Facebook Live. One of my goals was to make my covers raw and spontaneous rather than professional and produced. I wanted to invite people into my everyday life while also singing a Christmas song. I did covers in my pajamas, at work between meetings, on the floor of my office, and whenever I had the time. Some covers were in the middle of the day, and some were late at night. Each one allowed me to show Facebook friends a small piece of my life.

1st Day: Santa Baby (ft. Kelsie Goodwin)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154814878678114/

2nd Day: Christmas in California (by Miller Jarrell)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154818160648114/

3rd Day: Jingle Bells (ft. literally everyone)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154821931448114/

4th Day: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154824391203114/

5th Day: Mistletoe (ft. Kelsie Goodwin and Trace Borrerro)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154827158423114/

6th Day: What Child is This (ft. Tevis Godfrey)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154832120588114/

7th Day: White Christmas (ft. my cat, Beans)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154835750303114/

8th Day: Dominick the Donkey (ft. my dad)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154839083978114/

9th Day: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154842155923114/

10th Day: Baby It's Cold Outside (ft. Kylee Grimwood and using 3 iPhones)

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154845457078114/

11th Day: Ba-Humbug Carols from Jingle Jam

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154849418953114/

12th Day: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

https://www.facebook.com/klcombs95/videos/10154853454653114/

John 9

Written for and performed at Crosspoint in September 2016.

There was a man who was born blind, and this man was a beggar out in the streets of Jerusalem. I don’t know what it was like to be a blind beggar in first century Jerusalem, but I imagine there was a routine to it. The man probably woke each morning and went to the same place in the same town, where the same people passed him by and responded the same way each time. He heard people walking, smelled them as they passed, asked them for money, but he had never seen them and they never seemed to take notice of him.

One day the man heard a group of people walking past him, and they asked each other why this man was born blind, because of his parents’ sin or because of his own.

The man was used to hearing questions like this. It often sparked a debate or discussion about the cause of disease, the relation of sin and suffering. The next best thing to being noticed is being talked about, right? The question wasn’t new to him.

But this time was different. Among the men was a stranger, and this stranger took notice of the man. He didn’t reduce the blind man’s existence to one example in a theological debate; he saw the blind man as more than just a beggar in the streets. This stranger told the others, "It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”

The stranger didn’t blame the man born blind. He didn’t blame his parents. The stranger said, "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.”

The blind man heard the group of men stop, and he heard a familiar sound; someone had spit. The blind man flinched. He knew this sound all too well. People spit on him often as they passed. He heard one of the men moving around, maybe bending down to the ground. He listened. He wondered what the man was doing. He felt a stranger’s hands rubbing something across his eyes, and the stranger told him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam.

The man born blind… What could he have been thinking? The stranger’s words were probably ringing in his ears, a concept he’d never heard before: "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” What could that mean? Who was that stranger, and what was he talking about?

The blind man left and went to the pool. Maybe he knew his way there, or maybe he had to ask for directions. Maybe he walked casually, or maybe he ran as fast as he could. Maybe he was confused and curious, or maybe he was eager and determined.

When he got to the pool, maybe he knelt down and cupped his hands in the water and splashed it on his face, or maybe he dunked his head straight in the water. But when he had washed, he could see! This man who had never seen anything could suddenly see! He could see the route he’d taken to the pool. He could see the men who passed him on the street everyday, the corner where he sat and begged, the sun he’d felt warm his face. He could see the clothes he wore, the ground beneath him. The blind man could see!

Performed by Amy at Crosspoint, Niceville. 

3 Reasons to Talk About Poop

Poop. We all do it. Some people even talk about it. But then again, so many people don't talk about poop.

To my more conservative, poo-shy friends, here are 3 reasons to reconsider your aversion to the matter.

1. Everyone poops

As Taro Gomi so lovingly points out in the beloved children's book, Everyone Poops. Cats and dogs, birds and bees, boys and girls (no matter how they may protest), adults and kids -- we all poop. Why not talk about it? We exist in solidarity with one another's production of solids. Let's share in the experience.

2. Care for Physical Health

Sometimes I just need my friends to ask how I'm pooping. This shows that they not only care for my emotional and psychological wellbeing, but for my digestive health, as well. If I come to you to complain about diarrhea, chances are pretty high that I value you as a friend and fellow human.

3. Intimacy

I know a lot about my roommates. We're very close. We tell each other everything -- well, almost everything. Imagine how much more intimate we'd be if we could talk openly about our poop! I'm not asking for a mention in every conversation, or even every day, but just the option to talk about poop would bring such depth to our relationship. You'll know more about me and I'll know more about you. Everyone wins.

So what about you? Are you cool to converse on the matter of poo? 💩

Now I Know

When I was 12 years old, I sat in an Easter Sunday service at Blue Grass Church and listened to Pastor Doug explain this Jesus Christ guy in a way I hadn’t understood before. I was overcome with emotion and knew that I had to do something about what I’d heard, so I prayed with a friend and mentor and she helped me accept Christ into my life as my Savior. From then on, when people asked me if I was “saved” (ick) or if I had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I would refer back to that Easter Sunday and affirm that yes, I did know Jesus. I was never defensive, nor did I feel accused. I was confident in my story and confident in my relationship with the Lord. While I was on Summer Ministry Team, however, Jesus quickly started working in my heart to repair my false certainties. The Lord revealed to me that I had not been following him wholeheartedly at age 12, nor at age 13, nor at ages 14 through 18, in fact. He showed me the person I was in middle school and in high school, and he let me compare that person to who I am now. He held me close and tenderly whispered, You’ve got it all wrong. 

It turns out that, in fact, I was not a follower of Christ until September 18, 2014 (one year ago today) when I went to the altar after Rev. Stan Key’s message at Asbury’s Thursday evening Fall Revival service and told Jesus, All I am is yours. I surrender. I’ll do whatever it takes, to which Jesus promptly responded with exactly what it would take. He spoke to me in a step-by-step process, with step one being to break up with my boyfriend.

Obviously I protested. Lord, you don’t understand, I prayed. I love him! I need him! Jesus answered ever so sweetly, That, my daughter, is exactly the problem. I knew that if I was going to go through with my commitment to the Lord, I would have to confess to someone in that moment what Jesus was doing in my heart, to tell someone who would hold me accountable to the steps I had to take to be all in for Christ.

I went to Jon, my professor, mentor, and friend, and through my sobs I managed to get out, “Jesus wants me to break up with my boyfriend!” Jon nodded compassionately and responded, “Oh, honey... I know.”

That night I went to Applebee’s with my roommate (holding back tears at the dinner table), excused myself for a moment, and called my boyfriend from the parking lot of the restaurant to break up with him. We both cried. It hurt so much. I was depressed for days after, when the world looked gray and gross and I was wading through heavy haze everywhere I went.

The crazy thing about the depression, though, is that Jesus was right there with me. When I felt at my worst, he felt even closer. When I could barely get out of bed to go to class, he sang songs of healing and redemption over me. When I couldn’t sleep at night because my mind wouldn’t stop wandering, Jesus gave me the prayers to pray and the scriptures to read. Once I surrendered my life, I could feel the presence of the Lord meeting me exactly where I was, in the midst of my pain and confusion and hardship.

And this summer, Jesus revealed to me that that moment is when I entered into relationship with him. I was not a Christian after I went to the altar on Easter Sunday. I was not following Christ when I jumped from relationship to relationship in high school, or when I focused on self-promotion and cancerous comparison. I became a Christ-follower when I surrender, and accepted Jesus not only as Savior, but as Lord of my life. I decided to let him call the shots, and I began intentionally obeying his commands, his call, his desires for my life.

At this groundbreaking realization, I went to Ariane in anguish, worried about the ramifications of my whole story to this point being a lie. Ariane listened as I spoke, and when I got to the quintessential question -- “What does this mean!?” -- she chuckled softly and reassured me, “It literally doesn’t mean anything. It just means, now you know.”

Now I know.

Now I know that being mistaken is not my whole life being a lie. Now I know that Jesus has been eagerly pursuing me since the beginning of time, and he continued to pursue me even when I thought I was already in a relationship with him. Now I know that September 18 is actually a really big day for me. Now I know that I am a daughter of the King, a follower of Christ, a servant to his Kingdom, and I’m in passionate pursuit of his will for me.

Now I know.

The Home Stretch

Today we are heading from Collins, OH, to Hollow Rock Camp Meeting for the last 10 days of our tour. Instead of getting all sappy and nostalgic about the summer, I’ll just fill you in on how our week has been. When we arrived Saturday afternoon in Collins, we met at the church with Donna and Pastor Josh to go over the plans for the week before heading to get settled in at our host homes. Cliff and Micah stayed with Jerry and Florence, a very loving elderly couple who had lots of wisdom to share with our guys. Brandon and Conner stayed with Ron and Chicky, a couple whose hospitality goes above and beyond what we could ever have expected. Ron and Chicky made snacks for us every night after VBS and really loved on our whole team. The girls stayed with Brian and Casi, their boys Wesley and Collin, and their dog Scooby. Brian and Casi were incredible hosts, and a lot of fun to talk to and get to know.

On Sunday morning we loaded up and went to the first of three church services. Ariane shared about our team and Acts 20:17-27, Kat talked about the story of Jonah, and Micah gave a bit of his testimony. Then we loaded up and went to West Hartland UMC and did the same thing all over again, this time with Christa giving her testimony. After the second service, we loaded up and went back to Collins to do it all over again — needless to say, it was a long morning.

After lunch at the church and some prep time for VBS, we all went back to our host homes for a power nap before we started VBS that night. The VBS theme this week was G-Force, which focused on God’s love in action. Kat and Ariane helped lead the songs each night, adding a whole new collection of kids’ songs to the team’s repertoire. Micah helped out in the craft room, Cliff helped with games, and Brandon took his puppeteering experience from last week and put it to good use playing the role of Checkers the cheetah puppet. When he wasn’t puppeteering, Brandon was helping with the preschoolers. Christa helped lead the 1st grade group, Conner and Ariane helped with the kindergarten kids, and Kat was a leader in the 3rd and 4th grade group. As usual, we all absolutely loved getting to know the kids, and saying goodbye Wednesday night was really hard.

Our mornings were spent helping with odd jobs for the VBS like mapping a color run and sorting papers, followed by free time swimming, fishing, and even visiting Lake Erie. We got to visit with lots of families from the church and enjoy the wonderful weather this week… That’s sarcasm. The weather was bipolar and annoying all week.

When the church found out we were a band, they asked us to play for them. We ended up setting up a full-band worship night in a barn Wednesday night and playing for an hour or so for the people from the church. They provided snacks and a fire pit, and we provided the music. It was an appropriate send off, and we really enjoyed getting to worship with them.

Looking Ahead

Now we are heading to Hollow Rock Camp meeting to finish out our tour. As we go into our last 10 days, please be praying for supernatural endurance for our team so that we can finish well. Also pray that we would minister well at Hollow Rock. We are really looking forward to reconnecting with people we met at Finley, and to playing music together again.

Thank you for your prayers and support! To those of you at home, we’ll see you soon!

Picture: The barn made for an awesome set up for a worship night.

The Prodigal Blog Post

I’ll start by apologizing for missing a whole week of blogging. Usually I blog in the van on the way to our next stop, but I was carsick on our last van ride and then I just kept putting off the task -- but never fear! I’ll catch you up in this Prodigal Blog Post!

RECAP, PART 1: JOY OF LIVING

Last week we were counselors at Joy of Living Camp in Brinkhaven, Ohio. The camp is out in the middle of nowhere with pretty much zero cell service, but oddly enough they have wifi for staff pretty much everywhere. The camp services mostly inner city youth who can’t afford to come to camp. Donors send money that it purposed for scholarships so that kids can come and have a camp experience. The theme for the summer is “The Sweet Life,” which focuses on the fruit of the spirit. We got to work with other counselors at the camp to lead groups of 8-12 year old kids through activities like challenge course, horseback riding, baking, team building, water games, and more.

Since the camp only had jobs for 5 counselors, Kat and Cliff helped out with other jobs. Kat was on program staff, which helped the camp run logistically. Cliff, to whom we will now refer lovingly to as kitchen-boy-man-servant, worked in the kitchen helping Miss Dee prepare all of our meals.

We loved getting to know and invest in the kids there, especially through teaching lessons and leading devotions. We really enjoyed getting to meet the other staff there, too, so much so that we convinced a few of them to come and visit us in Marysville during our break on 4th of July.

PART 2: MARYSVILLE

We arrived Friday evening at our host home and were immediately blown away by their generosity and hospitality. Philip and Sarah took great care of us, let us invade their home (even to the point of having friends over), fed us well, and truly blessed us last weekend.

We spent our break on Saturday exploring downtown Marysville with our newfound friends from Joy of Living. We went to a frozen yogurt place for lunch and an ice cream place for dessert, and then wandered around the area. In the evening a few of us went to the high school to watch the Marysville fireworks show.

Marysville First United Methodist Church hosted a mission trip this week called Transformation Zone, an annual event where middle and high school kids from 10+ local churches come to do mission work for different ministries in the area. We lived in the church and went out to local ministries during the days to work. The kids were split up into 18 work crews of about 10 kids, and each of us (except Conner) was assigned to a work crew.

Christa was with team 14 who went to the Willow Brook nursing home in Delaware, OH. Most of the time, the team volunteered in the memory care unit where the residents with Alzheimers live. They took walks, played games and trivia, made crafts, painted pictures, read stories and talked with the residents. They also played uker and took walks with some of the residents in the assisted living unit. In the afternoons, the team washed wheelchairs.

Brandon was in a work crew that worked with puppets. He had a great group of kids who worked hard and got along well. They did a couple of VBS visits and nursing home visits, where they performed their puppet show. Brandon was surprised at how well received the puppet ministry was.

Micah went to Willowbrook Nursing Home in Dublin, OH, to visit with residents. They played Bingo and cards, set up a jewelry show for the ladies, and got to hear a lot of good stories from a lot of wise people. To the crew’s surprise, the residents at Willowbrook were just as interested in hearing the team’s stories as the team was to hear theirs.

[wpvideo BuAhTc6g]Ariane and Cliff went to the Furniture Bank of central Ohio. They painted and built different furniture pieces for individuals who were stable enough to begin to move into a home or apartment. The furniture bank never failed to have a job and enough for everyone to do. Ariane ended up really enjoying the work and Cliff got the satisfaction of working with power tools. It was a great experience making things that would really help families in need.

Kat went out to a barn in the middle of nowhere to build bed frames for Bed Brigade, a ministry that takes beds to kids who’ve never had one. The beds were made completely from one piece of plywood and delivered with a mattress, bedding, and a Bible. Kat’s work crew was full of awesome kids who worked really well together, growing closer as the week went on and truly showing Jesus’ love to each other throughout the week. On Friday their crew went to deliver some beds to homes, which was humbling and beautiful.

Conner was not assigned to a work group at Transformation Zone, so he took pictures or filled in with groups whenever a spot opened up. Tuesday he laid mulch, cleaned bathrooms, and played basketball with some kids. He usually lost. Wednesday he helped build kids' bikes, a strange experience since many of the bikes had parts missing or defective.

At the end of each day of work, everyone met back at the church for showers and downtime. We ate dinner together in the church, and our team led worship for the evening services. The middle and high school kids were very expressive in their worship, and every night was incredibly fueling for us as a team. Guest speakers came each night to share and teach on the theme for the week, being Christ’s ambassadors, and the church and a local radio station even hosted a concert on Wednesday! Overall we had a great week.

LOOKING AHEAD

Now we are headed to Collins, OH, to help with a VBS. Here are ways you can pray for us this week:

• Pray for endurance as we head into the home stretch of our tour. We only have two location left - Collins and Hollow Rock - before we head back to Asbury and disperse until school starts again. While it’s easy to feel the effects of our tiredness and start preparing to be done, we pray that we would push through and finish well, giving our all for the next two and a half weeks.
• Continue to pray that our ministry is received well by others and that we are effective ambassadors for Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:20

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Picture: The entire group gathers for a photo at Transformation Zone.

A Brief Journey Home

After a great week at Camp Indicoso, we headed back to Asbury for the weekend to help out at reunion. Here is a quick recap of the last 10 or so days: We hit the ground running, as seems to usually be the case at new locations. We arrived around 5pm and started immediately setting up our sound system to play for evening worship at 8:45. Since the boys were also counselors, they ended up needing to go meet up with their groups while the girls stuck around and finished setting up the sound system (we nailed it, by the way). As is also usually the case, we neglected to eat dinner until after our worship set, so it was a pretty long day.

We led worship twice a day at camp, once in the morning and once in the evening. The kids were middle schoolers who loves upbeat, fun songs with silly motions (we didn’t know many of those, so we added 4 new songs to our set list this week). In our off time the boys were counselors and the girls, well, jumped in wherever we could to get involved and hang out with the kids. There were plenty of dance parties, small group discussions, and games that Lended well to having a few extra college kids around. We fell in love with the kids -- and the counselors! It seems to be a recurring theme that we leave a place loving the people there... Maybe Jesus has something to do with that.

Dance Party Clips

[wpvideo 9wgrvEgl] [wpvideo 5gXxavsM]

After a full week at Indicoso, we headed back to Asbury for the weekend, where we played background instrumental music for a few receptions and helped out with various kids camps here on campus for the Reunion Weekend (check out the big news at Asbury here).

Prayer Requests

Here are some ways you can pray for us in the coming week:

• Pray that we would be prepared to do whatever ministry is needed of us, and that we would serve to the best of our ability out of the outflow of Jesus’ love for us and for the people we are serving.
• Pray that any insecurities or false voices amongst our team would be silenced. Pray that we would all know and feel how pivotal we each are to the team, and that we would not let Satan get to us with the lies of unworthiness or misfittedness (that’s probably not a word, but pray against it anyways).
• Pray that the Lord would multiply our rest, and that we would feel rested and rejuvenated even though we are only getting the bare minimum in hours of sleep each night. Pray that we would not let Satan use our tiredness against us, individually or as a team. Pray that instead God would use our emptiness as an opportunity to pour out his love and his grace.

Thank you for your support and prayers. We are off to Joy of Living Ministries in Brinkhaven, OH, tomorrow afternoon.

Belmont to Indicoso

We are heading from flatland to flatland, leaving Ohio and entering Indiana to go to Camp Indicoso in Springville. To fill you in, here's a quick recap of our last week.

Recap

When we arrived Sunday, we ate dinner with the pastor and met with various church staff and leaders to talk about the week's plans. After dinner we all went to our respective host homes to get settled in. Ariane and Christa stayed with Jen, who is basically the queen of hospitality and invited the whole team over for snacks and Bop It every night. Micah and Cliff stayed with Johnnie and Barb, a couple whose newly-renovated attic is perfect for housing two college-age boys for a decade, let alone a week. Brandon and Conner stayed with Pastor Randy in the parsonage, about 6 steps from the church building. Kat stayed with Stephanie in the house she is still moving into -- literally unpacking boxes as we speak. Overall we were very well taken care of in our host homes, and we are incredibly grateful to our wonderful hosts.

Hometown Nazareth

We helped out at BUM (Belmont United Methodist) church this week with their VBS, Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a Kid. We had about 50 kids each night, split into 8 crews. We were in charge of leading stations for the kids, and volunteers from the church congregation led their crews, divided by age group, from station to station.

Cliff led "Hometown Huddle," a station where the kids practiced their memory verses, talked about the bible stories they were learning in other stations, and worked hard to convince Clifford the Bug Purple Dog to let them play Duck Duck Goose.

Christa and Kat led the station "Mary's House," where the kids came to hear about Jesus' life as a kid in Nazareth. Christa played the role of Mary the mother of Jesus who told stories about Jesus as a child to the guests in her home. Mary's neighbor, Eunice (no, she's not in the Bible), stopped by every day to cause trouble and doubt Mary's stories, which caused much discontent with the kids, who truly believed that Kat actually didn't believe in Jesus. One of the girls came up to Kat (dressed as Eunice) the last day and, wide eyed and heartbroken, asked, "Eunice, why don't you believe in Jesus?" We all then proceeded to cry and assure her that the stories Mary had been telling about miracles and wonders were starting to persuade Eunice that Jesus was more than the boy next door.

Ariane and Brandon led the fun and games station, where they led the kids in games that sometimes related well to the Hometown Nazareth theme and that sometimes were just for the sake of getting the kids to run around and hopefully get tired. They also worked hard to help the kids memorize the Bible verses with motions and all. A few games to highlight: Gorilla, Man, Gun; what the kids called "the sheep game," and duck duck goose. Never have we seen kids love duck duck goose quite this much.

Micah and Brandon led music for the opening and closing celebrations each night, and may I just say that we are still amazed at just how well our boys lead children's songs. Seriously.

Speaking of music, I have great news: we have all successfully secured a spot in our heads for at least 2 full VBS soundtracks to be perpetually stuck. Cheesy kids songs are currently playing on repeat in our minds and I'm pretty positive they will never end.

Conner and Micah each led a craft one night; Micah played the role of Gabriel the Carpenter and Conner was Samuel the Shepherd. When they weren't leading crafts, they went around from station to station and helped out where needed. Conner also wandered around with a camera taking pictures of the kids, who proceeded to ask him if he was a stalker.

We really enjoyed getting to be with the kids (and volunteers)! As usual, we fell in love with the kids and found it really hard to say goodbye on Friday when the VBS came to a close.

The Weekend

Saturday was our Sabbath, the blessed day off so graciously planned into our schedule by the lovely people of Belmont. Cliff, Christa, and Kat detoured to the National Air Force Museum for the morning, then met up with the rest of the team for lunch at Taco Bell and a few hours of much-needed band practice.

We split up after practice for alone time/adventure time (Micah, Brandon, and Kat found a disc golf store and an army surplus worth exploring) and then met up for dinner with Johnnie and Barb at a killer Chinese buffet, complete with crab legs, sushi, and fantastic conversation. Dinner was followed by the tossing of frisbee and the playing of Heads Up at Jen's -- an overall relaxing Sabbath, if I do say so myself.

This morning we led worship for Belmont's combined service, including 2 songs from VBS complete with motions (and the kids' help singing and dancing). We had lunch with Pastor Randy at the church (the people of Belmont sure can cook!), then packed up and headed out.

Next Up

Like I mentioned above, we are on our way to Camp Indicoso, where we will be the worship leaders for the week. Here are ways you can pray for us this week:

• Thank God that we had a restful and low-key week at Belmont, and that we had some time each afternoon to recharge.
• Pray that we would have a supernatural grace for each other in every situation.
• Pray that we would influence the kids at Camp Indicoso for Christ.
• Pray that our team would have enough team time. We are still a little fuzzy about just how involved our roles will be this week, but we are ultimately up for anything -- we just pray that God would protect our hearts throughout the busyness and that he would keep us safe from stress.
• Pray for our sound system... Last time we used our system we had some technical difficulties, e.g. we're pretty sure the devil himself decided to reside in our sound board and cause everything that could possibly fail to fail. If this could never happen again, that would be awesome.

Thank you so much to everyone for your prayers and support! Knowing that we have people back home and on the road praying for us and our mission is so incredibly encouraging. As you pray for us this week, please take a moment to read Acts 20:22-25 (verse 24 is our team verse) -- this passage is what our team is all about! Thanks again!

Acts 20:22-27 (NIV)

22 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23 I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. 24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

25 “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26 Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.

Picture: Brandon and kids play Red Rover

Departing toward Dayton

Recap

We left Steubenville on Thursday about 2 hours later than we had planned (we always leave later than we plan) and stayed the night on campus before getting Cliff at his house in Wilmore and heading back to First Alliance in Louisville. We showed up Friday afternoon and set up our sound system for their youth group service, where we played a few songs and Micah shared his testimony, which was pretty well received by the room full of teenage boys.

Last week when we were at First Alliance we were invited to the Bar Mitzvah of one of the boys, so we attended as a team Saturday morning. The service was Messianic Jewish, and it was really beautiful. We really enjoyed the traditional Jewish music, the Hebrew liturgy and scripture readings, and the privilege of seeing into another culture. After attending, we all felt really honored that Isaiah had invited us and that he wanted to share that part of his life with us.

We spent most of Saturday evening practicing -- it's great to have Cliff back! -- and learning a couple of new songs for Sunday morning service. This morning we led worship and shared testimonies from Micah, Ariane, and Kat. The service overall went really well, and we especially enjoyed getting to talk with members of the congregation afterward.

Prayer Requests

Now we are on our way to Belmont Church in Dayton, OH, to help with their VBS this week. Here are ways you can pray for us:

• Pray for supernatural endurance for the team. We are all starting to feel the effects of this summer, so pray that we can keep pushing through and going strong.
• Pray that no matter what we are faced with, our team would have such deep unity and Christ-like love that the tasks wouldn't matter.
• Pray that we would be received well by the people of Belmont Church and that the Holy Spirit would speak through us.

Thanks for your support! 

Picture: Bardstown Road mural 

Au Revoir, Steubenville

After spending the week in Steubenville, OH, we're on our way back to Wilmore to get Cliff (finally!) and then we're heading back to First Alliance to lead worship Friday evening and Sunday morning. To follow the usual format, here's the recap of our last week and pray requests for the next venue.

Recap

We led worship for a youth revival at Finley. We stayed in host homes, hung out with the youth, and played 6 services throughout the week.

When we arrived in Steubenville after some difficulty (Brandon's GPS was right, ours were not. Let's not talk about it.), we hit the ground running. We met with Tom and Ryan, who helped us set up our instruments and their sound system in the church, and we started practicing for Sunday morning. After a long night of practicing, we headed out to our host homes to get some rest.

The guys stayed with Ms. Paula who constantly put our boys in a food coma and spoiled them mercilessly. The girls stayed with the Keyser family whose hospitality manifested in good food, amazing conversation, and taking a day off to make time to hang out with us.

We got to hang out with the church's youth group and do service projects Monday and Wednesday afternoons. On Monday we set up a grill and hotdog bar outside the church on the street and served lunch to people passing by. With the meals we handed out business cards for the church, and we got to have some pretty meaningful conversations with people who stopped to get food. On Wednesday we went to the Urban Mission food pantry to help out with some odd jobs. We had been told there was a lot to get done, but by the time the 15 of us got to work, we knocked out all the work and then some in about an hour. We enjoyed getting to serve the community and to work with Finley's youth group.

The evening services were up at Finley's ministry center, which is a church building that was given to Finley that they have converted into the world's coolest youth group building -- the pews were removed and replaced with a random assortment of couches, foosball and pool tables, and that basketball arcade thing you had in your basement when you were little. We played music for the services and then hung out with the kids afterward eating food, playing the world's worst game of volleyball, teaching foursquare on an awkwardly large court, and discussing the proper way to make s'mores (Gabe prefers his marshmallows burnt to a crisp while Brandon and Kat prefer a nice golden brown color).

Over the course of the week we had a few directional difficulties including but not limited to finding a giant giraffe on the side of the road (picture below). There was also a turtle killed in the making of our week, and a 40-minute moment of silence held in his honor.

We especially enjoyed getting to know the people at Finley like Tom, who organized our whole stay and took great care of us while we were there, and Gabe and Harper, the pastor's kids who just clicked really well with our group. We also got to meet a lot of people we'll get to see again at Hollow Rock like Rachel and Abby.

Speaking of Hollow Rock, we're discovering more and more that this whole SMT thing is an existing universe outside of Asbury. Joining this team was stepping into something so much bigger than just the 7 of us touring the country, and it's been really awesome diving deeper into that world.

Prayer Requests

As we go into this weekend, please pray for the following:

• Pray that Cliff transitions well from Malawi to our team, and that we make his transition as smooth as we possibly can. Also pray that musically we would get back into the swing of being a full band. Since the summer began we've been playing acoustic sets with Conner on cajon (the box drum), so it will be nice to have Cliff playing a full drum set and Conner back on his tertiary instrument of bass (his primary and secondary are guitar and vocals, so he's a little out of his comfort zone in general this summer). Our dynamic will be totally different when Cliff joins us, both socially and musically, and we're all really excited for the change.
• Pray that we would minister well to the youth at First Alliance on Friday night and to the congregation on Sunday morning, especially that the Holy Spirit would speak through us in all we do and that we wouldn't get in the way of what Jesus wants to do this weekend.

Thank you for your support!

Picture: The Giant Giraffe that signals "You've gone the wrong way."

Farewell Louisville (for now)

Recap

We spent the last week at First Alliance Church/International Christian Center on Bardstown Road in Louisville, KY, running a VBS for neighborhood kids. Here is an abbreviated recap of the week's events:

• Our first night and the next day were dedicated entirely to decorating. Our theme for the week was To the Edge: Encounter the God of the Universe, so we decked out the basement of the church in space-themed decor. When you walked in the door, you were in outer space. Brandon had the brilliant idea to cover the walls in black trash bags to give it a night sky effect, and we hung stars and styrofoam "planets" from the ceilings throughout the hallway. We worked without pause from breakfast Monday morning at 9am to 6pm when the kids arrived that evening putting up stars and planets and glow sticks and everything we could think of to make that basement feel like outer space.
• The kids were mostly from Nepal, with some from various countries in Africa, some from Latin America, and one or two white kids -- needless to say, we were the minority! We had about 25-40 kids each night and split them into 3 groups by age: Conner took the littles (4-6), Micah took the middles (7-9), and Brandon took the bigs (10-12). The groups started in a bigger room where Micah led music and Ariane led memory verses, and then we split up and rotated through our stations. Christa was in charge of teaching the story, which was taken from a different Bible passage each night. Ariane led the kids in games, which usually wore the leaders out more than the kids. Kat came up with a different craft each night and led the groups through each one. At the end of each night we met again for music and memory verses and then sent the kids home.

  

• Most of these kids are bi- and trilingual, and English is their second language. When there were kids who did't know English very well, the others were always very eager to help out. By the end of the week, we were all really attached to our kids, and we finally knew their names, no matter how unpronounceable they were to us.
• One of the guys who helped out with the VBS was Austin, who was about our age and had an amazing testimony. He really clicked with our team and stuck around for dinner and showings of Veggie Tales on VHS each night.
• We slept in classrooms in the church, so we were in that basement pretty much all the time. The funny thing about basements is that you lose all sense of space and time; we woke up at 11am feeling like it was 4 in the morning, we didn't eat lunch until 2:30 or 3, and dinner didn't even hit the stove until the kids left around 8:30 each night. Our internal clocks are completely messed up.
• The guys worked on some odd jobs around the church like trimming trees and fixing cabinets throughout the days while the girls prepared the curriculum/games/crafts for the evening and set out food for meals -- and may I just say that we are very proud of our guys for their successful use of a chainsaw!
• Since our boys were in dire need of haircuts, we dedicated all of Tuesday afternoon to clippers and sheers; our men are now neatly trimmed and presentable.
• We cooked all of our meals this week, which was a bonding experience in and of itself. Here's our week's dinner menu; parents, be proud.

• Monday: Spaghetti with meat sauce
• Tuesday: Chicken and rice with mushroom sauce and green beans
• Wednesday: Taco Salad
• Thursday: Chicken and Shrimp Fettuccine in Alfredo Sauce
• Friday: Chicken Parmesan (breaded and fried chicken breast over spaghetti noodles with marinara sauce and mozzarella and parmesan cheeses) and Broccoli

 We detoured through Lexington today to go to a wedding and got to catch up with some friends in the process. Be sure to check out the Circle of Hope Facebook page for updates on Cliff and his team in Malawi. They're doing awesome ministry there, and we're super excited for what Jesus is doing in and through them.

Prayer for the Upcoming Week

We're headed to Steubenville, OH, now to lead worship at a total of 6 services in the next 4 days for a youth revival. We are very excited, but also very nervous! Here's how you can pray for our team and our ministry in the upcoming week:

• Since we were leading a VBS all week, most of us haven't even touched our instruments since our training week back on campus... and we're leading 3 worship services tomorrow! Pray that we would quickly and easily get back into the groove of being a worship band.
• Continue to pray for Cliff and his team for their last few days in Malawi. The team comes home Tuesday and Cliff rejoins our team Friday. Pray for a smooth transition for everyone.
• Pray that we would reach people well for Christ this week, and that our team would be as effective as we possibly can in love and unity.

As always, thanks so much for your prayers and support!

Picture: The gang poses for a group photo on the last day of VBS.

Wilmore to Louisville

And So It Begins!

After a long week of a lot of training sessions, Sojourn is (finally) on the road! Here is a quick recap of the last week:

• Like I said, we went through a lot of training sessions this week, including van safety, finances, story telling, confidentiality, and many many more. Though our schedule was surprisingly full, we do feel better prepared for our summer after this last week.
• The pastor at our first church stop came to meet with us one day at lunch and told us all about the church and what to expect, which was really helpful.
• One of our training sessions was going to Asbury's Challenge Course and doing different group challenges. A few of us had been really dreading the trip to the course, but it ended up being super fun and really beneficial. We all learned a lot about each other, ourselves, and our team dynamic.
• The last session was a "talent show" where both teams did a mock service with skits, music, and testimony. It was great to show each other what we have been preparing for the summer and to encourage each other in our preparation.
• We met this morning at 7:30 to wish bon voyage to the other team, Ebenezer. After seeing them off, we went back to bed until it was time to pack up and get on the road.

As we head to our next stop, here are some prayer requests:

• This week we will be leading a vacation Bible school in the evenings for 25-40 international kids. Our theme is To the Edge and it focuses on the God of the universe in relation to us, his creation. Be praying that we would lead well, and especially that we would be able to share Jesus with kids who may not receive the message of the gospel any other way. Many of these children speak English as a second language and come from Muslim and Hindu homes.
• Continue to pray for Cliff and his team in Malawi, Africa. They will return stateside on June 9. Pray that they minister well to the people in Malawi and that Cliff has as smooth as possible of a transition when he comes home and joins our team.

Thank you for all of your prayer and support!