Summer Project Update 3 (Defeating Complacency and Passiveness)

The past week on project has been somewhat frustrating for me, and it's really been one big thing that has made it that way. I've really been feeling a lack of community.I just haven't really made any solid connections with any of the men here with me on project so far. It's so easy to just get used to having a solid group of Christian guy friends around you constantly, and to experience anything less is very difficult. It makes me realize just how important it is to have close brothers around to just be able to pour your heart out to whenever. In a lot of ways it makes me realize how blessed I am with the brothers I have back at school and at home. I haven't by any means given up or lost hope in this for my summer, but I've just been merely flustered by the fact that something I'm used to having an abundance of is seemingly nonexistent for me at this point and time. My initial reaction to all this was to just feel sorry for myself and actively choose to just have an attitude that nothing will change. But through much reflection and thinking time on the topic, I've realized that if I want to see things change in this area for myself, I need to be proactive and pursue close relationships with other men on project. It helps to know that many of the other men on project are probably having similar feelings right now, but we'll all stay in this state if no person takes action. It just comes down to who's going to be the guy who steps up to the plate and goes after it. I'm declaring myself as that guy tonight because I know through Christ my introverted self can break out of his shell and help to shape meaningful Christ-centered relationships during this short summer trip. My hope is that other men on project will catch on and break out of their own shells as well. It certainly won't be easy, but I'm relying on the God that gave me this sweet idea to come through. He always does. You can help to. If there's one prayer request I have for this week it's that God would use me to begin break through on our project that breaks down the barriers of awkwardness and self consciousnesses that keep relationships from building, and that He would give me the strength to persevere towards the vision He has given me.

Putting everything aside from the previous paragraph, there have been some cool things that have happened in the past week. Last week our project was very focused on outreach and we went out sharing nearly every day of the week. None of my conversations got very far, but I was proud to have initiated a total of 13 conversations by the weeks end! It was a great experience just to become more and more comfortable sharing my faith with others. Another cool thing that God has been showing me lately is how He just wants me to talk to Him. It doesn't matter what part of the day it is, what I'm in the middle of doing, or what my location is, He just wants to chat with me. You can call it prayer sure, but I just look at it as chatting it up with my heavenly father whenever I want, because that's how amazing He is. He can be accessed at anytime of the day, it doesn't matter. Anytime I want to talk to Him, He listens and responds. He is the greatest listener to ever exist in all of time and even outside of time. He won't ignore you or forsake you. In fact He delights in you, and there is nothing that makes Him more happy than to commune with His children whom He created to have close and intimate relationships with Him (Zephaniah 3:17). This morning I got up and started my work shift at the grocery store at 6am. As you can imagine, there is hardly anyone that gets up at 6 in the morning to go to the grocery store, so anytime that I work this shift I have an abundance of time to just stand in front of my register in silence as I wait for any customers to come through my line. So this morning I realized what a great opportunity this was to just chat it up with the Lord. I literally didn't have a single customer from the time I started until about 6:45. For about 45 minutes I just stood there in conversation with God. It was so refreshing to just talk to Him and hear back from Him to start off my day. I can't think of a better way to start my days now! I think I unintentionally set a standard for myself! Either that or God set a standard for me today! It's just been amazing to see the Lord work in life in this way recently and needless to say I'm very excited to see how I become closer and more committed to the Lord through all this. He always provides us with exactly what we need at the perfect moment. Sometimes it just takes us a little while to realize it!

That wraps up this weeks update. Be sure to check back next Wednesday for another update! I greatly appreciate all of your prayer support while I am here in on project! Please continue to pray that God would continue to breakthrough in my life. Also, if there is anything I can be praying about for you, don't hesitate to get in touch with me and tell me your personal requests. God bless and have a great rest of the week!

                                          Before...                                                        After!

The giant grilled cheese burger I consumed!

 Bible study at Starbucks

 Bible study guys at Five Guys

 Worship Team at Applebees

 Krispy Kreme!

Summer Project Update 2 (A Rollercoaster of a Week)

As I sit down and try to reflect on the past week since last Wednesday, I seem to remember both very awesome and very not so awesome events that have taken place. First off, I sit down and write tonight with a beast of a cold that has been warring on the past few days, making work hardly bearable. I've been doing my best to get extra rest as of lately to try to fight off this cold. I'm probably blowing my nose about every 10 minutes which easily makes it the one of the worst cases of a runny nose I've ever had. On top of this, yesterday I got off work to find that my car wouldn't start. I had to have the car towed which was a very stressful experience. After everything was taken care of my car ended up at a shop about 3 blocks down the road from the grocery store I work at, which turned out to be a huge blessing. A little while after finding out that my car had died I prayed over the situation with a few other guys from project that were giving me a ride back to project grounds to. Sure enough God saves the day again. With the help of my dad and AAA, I was able to get my car to a shop that as I said before was about 3 blocks from work which set up perfectly for me to be able to pick up my fixed car after I got off of work today. So in the midst of a stinky situation, I gave control over to the Lord and He took care of me once again. He just continues to bless me time and time again! As far as the sickness goes, I'm trusting that He's got me taken care of in that as well and that He has a bigger plan that I can't see at the moment.

Putting my cold and the car trouble aside, I wanted to touch on my highlight of the past week. Two nights ago I went out sharing with my friend Alissa and Andrea, another girl from project. We went to go share with someone we casually meet last week. We found him and started to talk to him about his new job and such, but he had to go. We then ended up chatting with his coworker Bree, who had an interesting background. The conversation with Bree didn't go too far. He explained to us his spiritual background and current beliefs and that was pretty much it for the conversation. But what I was taken aback by was how filled with the spirit I was as we went sharing that night. I could just feel His love and feel Him with me as I went out. What a joy it is to walk confidently in the Holy Spirit and His power! There is just simply no feeling like it! As the girls and I prayed throughout the night, I just felt the Lord speaking through my prayers. I went to bed that night filled and empowered by the the Lord and it just felt so good. 

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week. I play on the Thursday night worship team for the first time tomorrow night and I'm pumped for that. I'm also extremely excited for more opportunities to go out sharing after my experience the other night. He has built up my confidence to a point where I am not afraid to go anymore. If my God is for me, than who can stand against me? It's been really awesome to see how the Lord has been working in my heart in this area during the past week. That wraps up this week's post! I hope you all are encouraged and blessed by my stories as always! Have a great rest of your weeks!

Summer Project Update 1 (The Lord's Definite Affirmation)

FOR THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE, PLAY THIS SONG WHILE YOU READ THIS UPDATE! :)

As most of you know, I arrived in North Myrtle Beach, SC on Sunday evening to begin a summer long journey on summer project. Summer project is essentially like a missions trip, and it's through an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). I first became involved with Cru when I got to UW River Falls a year and a half ago. Cru's vision statement is to win people to Christ, help students in their relationships with the Lord, and sending them into the world prepared with how to effectively live for the Lord and do His work. If there is one side of ministry that Cru focuses in on most it is evangelism. Bill Bright, the founder of Cru, had a huge heart for sharing the gospel with the world. It's no coincidence that the Lord brought me into being involved with Cru when he did because sharing my faith was something I had never practiced or even attempted before arriving at River Falls.

Before I left for Myrtle Beach I really didn't know a whole lot of what to expect from project. I knew I was going to be working full time, doing ministry and building relationships with other students in the time in between, but aside from these things I had no idea what to be expecting. I think it's also important to note that my friend Zak Branham got married last week and I served as his best man. It was so much fun to be Zak's best man and take part in all the festivities and traditions that come with filling the role. But at the same time me being the wedding meant that I would have to be 4 days late to project. All the other students on project arrived on time or a day late, so it was inevitable that I was going to be behind upon my arrival. I can easily say that last week was one of the most stressful times of my life. With all the things with the wedding and preparing to move halfway across the country for the summer I certainly had my hands full and then some. Somehow I managed to get all the preparations done for both the wedding and project, and there's no possible way that I did it all under my own power and strength. So after a beautiful wedding (and successful one as best man) I woke up last Saturday morning and began my 23 hour drive to North Myrtle Beach, SC. 


The first day of driving I nailed out about 14 hours of driving and found myself at a hotel in Lexington, KY to spend the night and get some rest for the reminder of the trip. I was amazed at how smooth the first portion of my trip went. I didn't have a single issue with my 11 year old Saturn or with traffic all the way to Lexington, which was such and incredible blessing. The hotel, by the way, was a new experience for me as I checked out a room on my own (I felt so old!). So I then woke up early the next morning and headed out with the plan to make it to NMB by early evening time. Once again, the second portion of the trip went just as smooth as the first day. Not only was it smooth, but it was also unbelievably beautiful. A good chunk of my trip on Sunday took me through the amazing and breathtaking Smokey Mountains that are located in Tennessee and North Carolina. The scenery made the trip easily about ten times more tolerable. I ended up rolling into project at about 6:45pm. When I got there, I tried calling the staff guy that I was supposed to and he didn't answer. Thankfully, a group of guys from project happened to be walking by and they took me under their wing and immediately brought me straight to the first large group meeting. It was a bit of a shock after sitting in my car all day, but it was great to be able to jump straight into the flow of things and to start meeting the some 100 other students that join me this summer. 


Since my arrival things have been going great. I've now put in two days at my job at the local grocery store and I'm really loving it there. The management is great, all my coworkers are fantastic, and despite the fact that most my shifts will be starting at 5:45am (pray for me!), I know I'm going to love it there! It's been so neat to meet all of the students that are here with me from campuses all across the midwest. Each one of them seems to bring something unique to our team and I have loved to start to get to know them in my first few days here. I've also met with both my bible study and my impact group which is a group that joins together on a weekly basis to go sharing. My bible study is filled with 5 other top notch guys that truly have a deep passion for the Lord and are in hot pursuit of Him. Here on project we've also been separated into specific ministry teams that exist to give us and opportunity to use our special gifts from the Lord to do His work while we are here. I found out on Sunday that I had been chosen to be apart of the worship team that plays for our Thursday night weekly meeting which was the team I was really hoping to find myself on for the summer. I just can't seem to be able to come up with anything that hasn't gone well since I've been here and it's very apparent that God has me here for a reason in this season of my life. Which brings me to the last and most important thing I wanted to touch on in this update.


I have just been in complete awe of how God has blessed me in abundance and prepared my heart for the summer. There are numerous testimonies just from the past week that show the work the Lord is doing to affirm to me that NMB is without a doubt what He has had planned for me for this particular summer and season of my life. First of all, my support raising for project went better than I could of ever imagined. With just a few days left before I left, I needed about $700 more to meet my goal. I came home to find that I had received two letters in the mail that day. I opened them both and had received $735 total. Absolutely incredible. Sure enough, the the always faithful God of the universe came through in a huge way again for me. The same day I got a call back from the grocery store in NMB. After days of worrying about the difficulties of finding a job arriving late to project, the Lord came through again for me and I was hired over the phone. Also, a very similar thing happened with how I ended up on the worship team. I had put on my application for project that I played drums and was hoping to have the opportunity to play as I stated before. I got an email from the staff worship leader last Friday and I was told that I was going to miss out on the auditions that were going to be held for the team on Saturday. I shared with him my drumming experience and shared some of music I've recorded which was about my only hope of getting in. I wasn't feeling all too confident that I was going to get in, but on Saturday night when I checked my email at the hotel, I received an email notifying me that I had made the worship team! Wow. I was just so overwhelmed by the Lord's work in my life at this point. It was this point where I really began to realize all that He had been doing to create the perfect conditions for me to effectively serve and grow in Him over this summer. His plans for His children are so specific and intricate and I've been seeing it first hand. He's made his plans so clear and obvious to me and it's indescribable how it feels to know of the assurance that His plan for me is PERFECT and FLAWLESS. He has affirmed to me that I am in the place I'm supposed to be this summer and I can't even begin to count the amount of times and ways He has blessed me just within the past week.


With all these incredible testimonies, I can't even begin to imagine what God has in store for me during this summer let alone the next few days. I plan to consistently keep y'all (I'm catching onto some southern slang already!) updated on what happens throughout the rest of my summer here on project. Please keep checking back to see new entries and catch up on more amazing testimonies of how the Lord works through me and my project mates. I pray that all who read this will be encouraged and blessed by my life stories from the past week and also for the well being of you and your families. I love you all and can't wait to share more with you in the coming weeks! Please also continue to pray for me and my summer, that the Lord would continue to do amazing things in my life. Be blessed!

P.S. Below are some pictures from project so far!

The Simplicity of Grace

As believers and followers of Christ we all know and comprehend the concept of grace or at least have a basic understanding of what it is. But do we actually accept this amazing gift to it's fullest, the way it was meant to be received? I feel that this is a common struggle among Christians. When we sin we know what we have to do to be forgiven. It's a pretty uncomplicated process really. Ask God to forgive you with a repentant heart and wham you're forgiven by the blood of Christ. Unfortunately we tend to complicate this process that was made to be simple. 

There have been many occasions where I've been down this road. I would go as far as to say that it's probably the second biggest thing that has hindered my relationship with God in the past. The last and final time I went through this was a mere two weeks ago. For what seemed like the millionth time I was stuck in that old familiar place of knowing and understanding the grace of God but not acting on it due to the deceit I was constantly letting into my head from the enemy. Satan had convinced me that the receiving of grace was a long, painful, and complicated process in which I wouldn't want to participate in. So I went on with my daily life without God. It was such a spiritually dull and boring time for me, rightfully so. One night my close friends Dan, Mark, Ethan and I decided to go do some praying together after an event at church. I went into the whole thing telling myself that I couldn't pray or do anything with or for God in my then current state. I almost can't even describe the thoughts that were rolling through my head as my buddies began to pray and talk. So I secluded myself from the prayer and conversation that was going on and just sat there feeling completely stuck without any sense of direction. After a while Dan noticed my behavior and asked me what was going on. I struggled to find the words to describe my situation and was only really able to squeak out that I was having trouble going before God and repenting. My situation sparked conversation in the room and my friends ended up telling me exactly what they needed to tell me which was that I had to repent no matter how I was feeling about it. At first Mark suggested that I pray out loud to God right then and there. So I tried it but it resulted in about 2 minutes of pure silence. The silence was good though. It allowed me to settle down and listen to the spirit speak to me. By the end of the couple of minutes I was feeling led to a one-on-one appointment with the Lord. So I told the guys I was feeling that way and I left the room for the dark and empty sanctuary upstairs.

The moment I stepped foot into the sanctuary I could sense the presence of God. It was so comforting to feel even the slightest amount of the presence after such a drought. I then proceeded to walk up onto the stage up to the cross that is displayed in the front of the church. I got on my knees and just began to talk to God, expressing my desires and surrendering to Him. After I had finished I walked away still slightly unsure of what I had just experienced. But it wasn't more than a few seconds after that when the presence of the Lord came like light a lightning bolt to the top of my head. I felt His sweet presence for almost the entire walk back down to the room where the guys were. It was like a walk of confidence. Confidence that I was free from everything that I had been dealing with, free from my uncertainties, free from my sin, but most importantly free for the rest of my life from the devil's lie that I can't be forgiven or that repenting is a process that is not worth going through. Such a heavy burden was lifted off of my shoulders that night.

 Hebrews 4:16 (NIV) Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. There's confidence involved on both ends of the spectrum here. Confidence to approach God's throne of grace and confidence that you will walk in that grace that has been given to you freely upon being forgiven.

I believe that what I experienced that night was the simplicity that is and always was made to be part of the process of receiving grace. All it takes is a yearning for the living God and humility. We can get so distracted and turned away from this but in the end it will always be a resounding truth. I think we can get a glimpse of this by reading James 4:5-10 (NIV) which says: 

Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud 

but shows favor to the humble.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.  

Why would God make forgiveness a grueling process for us? He doesn't, satan does. You see, satan will try to severely distort what you think about even the most concrete and foundational elements of scripture and Christianity. He's sly and sneaky and wants nothing more than to take away from your relationship with God. But the Lord is stronger. He is, was, and always will be. Our pursuit of Him will always get us through whatever it is that we are going through in life, anything that satan throws at us. The pursuit of Him is the most important thing you can do for your spiritual well-being.

So if you have been struggling with this stuff I encourage you to meditate and pray on this: 

Let us APPROACH God's throne of grace with CONFIDENCE, So that we may RECEIVE mercy and FIND grace to HELP US in our time of need. I hope that this has helped any of you who have dealt with some of the same things I have. God bless.