Fishing Poles

I was out at the docks at Morse Beach yesterday. I was in a wierd mood all afternoon and decided to head out there to clear my head and spend some time with God. Walking from my car to the docks I saw an older man fishing along the shore of the lake. We exchanged quick greetings and I went on my way to the far dock.

After shooing off the ducks and sitting down Indian style, the older gentlemen said across the docks, "Looks like you forgot your fishing pole." I responded with a chuckle, "Yeah, I guess I did."

After saying that, I looked down and in my hands was my Bible. The verse came to mind "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19. I hadn't forgotten my fishing pole, it was in my hands. Oh! How I wanted to tell than old man that, and I regret not taking the chance. I could've been the only one who could have witnessed to him. And I pray someone else gets the chance to share the Gospel with him, since I didn't.

That experience really made me think about God's Word. Just like I may not always have a fishing pole in hand, I may not always have the Bible in my hands. That is why God wants us to hide his Word in our hearts. When we do not have our fishing poles at hand, the Word tucked into our hearts will come forth. It is so important, God's Word!!

Over the last couple of days, I have forgotten how importand God's Words are. I've been reading through Joseph's story in Genesis: his brothers' betrayel, enslavement and inprisonment. And I have been reading them just as stories. These words are more than just stories; they are example of God's faithfulness. I think of Joseph's trust in God. Things kept getting worse and worse for him, and he continued to trust in God to protect him. And God was faithful! He provided for him ten times over and even for the brothers that hated him. God is so faithful! His Word is so faithful!

"I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young and old will hear of your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens." Psalm 89: 1-2

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness." Psalm 115:1

Threads: How to Study the Bible

On Tuesday our youth group had an event called Threads at the church. We've had a couple of these this last summer and basically they are a chance for us students to dive deeper into the Word and get some adults perspective on some things.

This month was How to Study the Bible led by Keith Comp. First of all, Keith you did an AWESOME job giving us some completely practical, challenging, and still do-able things on how to really dig deep into the Word of God.

He talked about 7 keys to understand the bible:

1. Desire - in order to understand the Bible and have it change us, we have to want to understand it and want for it to change us. It's a two way street, folks.
2. Pray - If we ask God to help us understand what the Bible says, He's pretty good at letting us know (though we might not always like the answer)
3. Read it - I think it explains itself
4. Read it again - I'd forgot about. If you read a passage and you don't get it, or nothing jumps out at ya, read it again and I bet you'll find something
5. Time - The more I read, the easier it is to understand it, but the deeper I go, the more I'm challenged.
6. Tools - Keith and Justin gave some awesome website to check out
   www.biblegateway.com
   www.blueletterbible.com
   www.e-sword.net
   
7. Pen & Paper - Being a journal keeper myself, I really like this point. Sometimes, as I read through a passage, I paraphrase it myself in my journal, often wording it to relate to my situation. And sometimes, I just need to talk to God about something I read.

That's the gist to what Keith thought us, but there is so much more I walked away with. Pertaining to my challenge, I got some easy steps to help me keep in track with my reading plan.

-Spread my reading throughout the day
-Keep my Bible open in an obvious place
-Keep a calender to check off reading dates

It is currently Day 9 and I am on tract, actually a few days ahead in the Old Testament (really loving all the history).

Go Abraham!!!!

I'm on Day 6 I believe, and I'm thoroughly enjoying Genesis, considering I'm still in the storybook part. I read in Genesis 18 today about some real guts that Abraham had. It's verses 16-33. Basically, Abraham negotiates with God on an extreme level (we're talking about the lives of thousands of people here).

Now, I'm not sure if you know who God is, but just a few verses later He destroys an entire city by raining down burning sulphur. Oh, and he also flooded the entire earth a few generations back. So, Abraham has to know that God is a pretty big guy.

A quick synopsis of how the story goes, God is with Abraham as he says farewell to some visitors he had (read the 1st part of ch. 18 for that story). So, the two are standing, looking over the city of Sodom when God tells Abraham his plan to destroy the city because of their wicked deeds. Well, Abraham was quick on his toes to ask God if he was going to kill the righteous and the wicked together. This is where the crazy part happens.

Abraham asks God if he would destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people there. God said no. Abraham then asks if God would destroy the city if there were 45 righteous people there. God said no. You see the pattern here? Abraham negotiates with God down to 10 people. How cool is that? I'm sorry, but I don't think I could to that with God, but Abraham did. And because he did that, he was able to save Lot and his family (minus the wife 'cause she looked back at Sodom)

Anyway, getting to the point of his blog, I want to say, Go Abraham!! I give him props for standing up to the Almighty. That story and Abraham's actions and words just remind me of the verse,

" 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. " Hebrews 4:16

Challenge Day 1, Actually Challenging

Alright, no wonder they actually call reading the Bible in a year a challenge. For Day 1 I read Genesis 1-3 and Matthew 1. Between eating breakfast, my brother's distractions, and still waking up in the morning, it took me about 40 minutes to read these 4 chapters. Let's hope it doesn't always take this long. But, like any adventure or journey, I'm still excited and motivated to read, no matter how long it takes.

It was interesting what I actually read today. There were 3 basic beginnings in the 4 chapters:

1. Beginning of the World (Creation)


2. Beginning of Sin (Fall of Man)


3. Beginning of the Redemption of Sin (Birth of Jesus)

It's crazy how in my first day of reading the Bible, I read about some of the most important stuff: When God created man, how man screwed up, and how God sent himself in a man to save us. All that,, in 4 short chapters. Crazy, isn't it?

Well, that's my 2 cents for today. I'll have more later, keep posted!

Here it goes

I honestly have no idea how to start my first post, so here it goes. I'm really excited to start blogging, I've never done it before and I'm not a very good writer, so it may stink, but I want to share what God is doing through my life and this challenge I received.

So, i got back from CIY (a big youth conference at a college campus) a couple days ago. I've been to CIY's before, but coming home from this one was different. Different because I came home with a homework assignment for next year. Usually, the last night of camp or conferences end in a huge worship holler fest, but this one was different. Now, we did sing and end in a bang (balloon & toilet paper worship, check out my youth pastor's blog for a visual), but there was much more than that.

All, 1200 students were given an envelope with a challenge inside. There were 50 challenges, none easy and some requiring a lot. They ranged from selling something that's worth $500 and giving it to the poor to fasting one school meal a week and praying for the student and teachers in the school. As our group of 51 students and leaders circled up to talk about the evening and open envelopes. I myself wasn't sure how many student would open envelopes, let alone follow through with the challenges. What God did was amazing. It was amazing to see student after student open these envelopes with amazing challenges.

The thing that blew my mind the most: there were 50 different cards to choose from, there were 51 of us to open cards. So, everyone would've gotten a different card except one. we had 7 students open cards that told them to organize a debate between an Atheist and a Christian at our schools. 7 students! Now, I don't know stats, but what are the chances of that? Outside of God, impossible! I, personally, am excited to see what God will do with that.

Now, to get to the reason of this blog, my challenge. My challenge was to read the Bible cover to cover by next summer. I've never attempted to read through the whole Bible before, and I have the feeling that it's really hard. I do have someone to do this with me though. Anthony Campos came up to me after we opened cards that night and told me he wanted to read it with me. I am so excited to start this!!!

As Anthony and I read through God' Word, I'll be sharing what God's doing through us and other student who took a challenge from this last week. Be praying for us, we cannot do it without God. I cannot wait to see God move through his people this next year!