Least of these, who is that

I have been pondering the whole verse where Jesus talks about the least of these and how by helping them we are serving Him. As I read that I see him giving examples to the disciples of people who they regualarly came in contact with. It was people they saw almost daily yet ignored, mocked, made fun of, or harrassed. Jesus challenged his disciples to look at these people differently then the world, instead of doing what others were doing to them Jesus said love them, show them you care and in them you will see me and they will see me in you. This is really challenging me to open my eyes and look around, who are the least of these around me that I ignore and don't show love too. In some ways it would be easier if Holland had a huge homeless population, it would be clear. Since that is not the case, I need to be intential in finding the lost, hurt people around me who need love. This following Jesus thing, really messes with me/us.

A thought while scouting

I had a really neat thought/idea this last weekend when I was out in Iowa scouting. I found the most defined buck bedding area I have ever found. It was on top of a hill with really thick cover, the ability to see, hear and smell for a ways, and with good exits to other thick cover. The place was loaded with HUGE rubs (@15 on trees over 4 inches @, not to mention all the smaller ones), there was droppings everyway, runs going in and out like crazy, and I even found a really nice shed in it. What it got me thinking about is how tough it is to get near a big bucks bedroom. He has this spot for a reason, it is almost impossible to get near him without him seeing, hearing or smelling you. He has a barrier set up around him that makes it tough to get to him. How much different isn't this then God. God has taken away all the barriers. He used to (OT) have a place (Holy of Holies) that was well protected and could only be penetrated once a year by the priest after doing everything just right (kind of similar to buck bedding area). Then in the NT he stripped that away (Jesus ripped the curtain to HOH and allowed access to God). He said I don't care what you look like, what comes out of your mouth sometimes or how bad your sin may smell, I want you to come into my special place and be with me. I want a relationship with you, I give you access to me at anytime you want it. All you have to do is come, when you get here you will love it, it will be like your home, it will be a place you will long for (kind of like the hunter wanting to get a big buck). As we enter this place with God, we will realize where there are things that aren't right. Sometimes they will be obvious and easy to clean up other times they might take a while to uncover and might be really hard to give up (take us truly surrendering to Him to clean up), but regardless we will come out of His presence changed and desiring to be with him more. He will be all we think about or want, like a big buck can do to us as well.

This kind of reminds me of one of my favorite verses and kind of the reason this blog is called full access. Through Jesus we have full access to God, in some ways this blog is a way to have access to my thoughts/life.

Romans 5:1-2 (Message)
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

Need directions

Man, Oh man.

I feel like me life is in a whirlwind right now. I feel like God is throwing a lot of fresh/new ideas my way and I'm trying to sift through it all and figure out what it all means. As I eluded to I'm trying to figure out within my ministry here at Calvary how to incorporate discipleship & service as well as how to partner more with parents. Now on top of those thoughts/ideas/possibilities, God has begun to stir within me thoughts about what it really means to be a Husband/father after his own heart. Does he really desire us to just be comfortable and float through life, I don't think so. He desires that we have an impact and infect people around us. I feel like in a lot of ways I'm not doing much of that; I'm just floating. He is awakening within me a desire to figure out what it could look like for us as a family to be reaching the poorest/weakest in our community. Not necessarily to serve them and offer them advice, but learn from them to just be with them. Man I can't even begin to write out all the stuff going through my head right now. I figure I just need to keep asking ?'s and get on my knees asking God to make the way clear.

Service/Discipleship

I have been struggling lately about what true discipleship means and could look like. I'm not saying I have any answers yet, but one piece that keeps coming up is service. It needs to be something that allows students to find/explore their gifts buy doing. I just thought it was really interesting that yesterday Katharine and I were talking more about what this could look like and how to involve service with a purpose then in the afternoon I received an email with this info in it:

"The best scenario is involvement in worship and prayer, living out faith through service, followed by time committed to study and reflection," he said. "The ideal is preaching the gospel and doing the gospel together."


If mature Christian adults work alongside teenagers and help them process what they learn through service, those teachable moments can make a profound impact on teens, he noted. "Their faith is developing, and they don’t have to be in pews to do it," Sherr said.
The greater the interaction between teenagers and the people who receive ministry -- and the deeper the relationship between the teens and adult Christian mentors -- the more profound the impact on faith development, Garland added. "It’s a continuum," she noted.


"In the depth of relationships, young people learn to find God in one another," Garland said. "It’s the interaction that matters. We learn faith not only by acquiring knowledge, but -- more significantly -- through relationships."


Moreover, this approach to ministry treats teenagers as partners in ministry rather than objects of ministry, an important and empowering distinction for developing new generations of spiritual leaders for today as well as tomorrow."


I guess this email was an answer to prayer. Now it comes down to figuring out how this can begin to happen.
The reason I have been thinking about discipleship/service is because I began to see some holes in what we were offering students. We give them information on Sunday mornings through Sunday School classes, they get worship at church, and they get to hang with friends and talk about life in Youth group, but there was just something missing. I guess I have an answer to what was missing; now it is just a matter of figuring out how to make it all come together.
Another interesting piece that fits into all of this is the training I went to over the weekend. It was provided by the mission organization we are working with this summer. It really got me thinking about the reason we are serving and how to best prepare everyone going for the experience we are hoping to have.

This isn't just something I need to provide for students, as much as something I also need to be involved in. I have felt at times recetnly like I was just going through life. Probably because I have been too focused on self, not others. I need to keep processing this to figure out what it means for me, so I can share it with others.

V-day

Just composing some of my thoughts for our upcoming talk about V-day/love/relationships. I'm amazed at how often I sell myself short of all that God really desires for me. I settle for the easy, quick, self-pleasing thoughts the world is throwing at me instead of striving for all that God designed for me. I don't love my wife the way I should, I look for the quickest, easiest way to apease her, instead of truly fulfilling her desires (which are ussually the oposite of mine). As I'm reading through material about Love and God's desire for it I once again realize how His plan is truly the best. To think about a love abaised on internal, more stable factors compared to external, quickly changing sure makes a lot of sense. It is almost like he knows what he is talking about, LOL.

Intro

Hey,

This is my first atempt at a blog, so we will see how it goes. Let me tell you a little about me. Well I'm 28 wonderful years old, I'm married to an incredible wife Monica and have a baby boy named Isaac. I work as a youth director at Calvary CRC in Holland, Mi. Before Calvary I worked at Peace Reformed in Zeeland for about 5 years, made custom cabinets for a couple of years, and did some auto body work for a few years. Last year I gratuated from RBC/Kuyper College with a degree in Youth Ministry and Bible/theology. I love to spend time with students and people to get to know them and hopefully share what is important to me in life (Jesus). When I'm not working I enjoy spending time with my family, hunting (talking about it as well), being with friends, & playing sports (mainly softball).