All that Glitters...

I went for a job as a gold prospector, but it didn't pan out.

Today turned out to be  a pretty crazy day. Crazy awesome. Woke up this morning a little before my alarm and was annoyed that I had music playing in my head and worries instead of scripture from LWGW.  But then I think i dozed off and woke up again just praying earnestly and strongly to God.  So awesome.  Then stressed out a little with getting to church, but God worked that out. Church was ok, lunch was good, then came back and had a one on one with one of my guys.  Started off a little slow, but really turned good after a little bit.  Cool to share with him and hear his ideas and how God is working in him. Then waited a little bit and did a few little things til another one of my guys got done with his bible study so we could have our one on one.  We sat on the outside stairs of the Crossings and just shared an incredible time of fellowship from my perspective.  He shared some of his struggles with his current relationship and how he saw it getting in the way of his growth in Christ. He's not sure where to go wiith it now, so I asked a few questions and spent a lot of time listening and trying to help him process.  His heart for Jesus is growing by the second. It encourages me to see that willingness to sacrifice whatever it takes to know Christ and make him known.  Ate supper with him and Josh, which was fun, then went to work on Bible study, which instead turned into hanging out with 3 of the guys in the study room talking and hanging out. Then got to catch up with Regan, who's pretty much a stud, in case you didn't know, which was great to hear how his summer's going and things like that.  Then had worship team practice, which went well, ending with a really fun cover of the cave by Mumford and Sons that we hope to do tomorrow.  So fun to sing the high harmony and play along. Then got back to my room and spent some time talking/mostly listening to one of my guys talk about just about anything -his class schedule, anime, ham-egg-and-cheese sandwiches, his desire to learn Japanese and how God could use that to reach the masses in Japan who've never even heard of Jesus.  Blessed by that.  Then talked to BJ back home and got to share a little about what my life has been like the past month and how he's doing. Then got to the study room and talked to another one of my guys who had been out and about for the evening.  He asked how I ended up at jax instead of doing an internship, so I got to share that story with him in full.  I love sharing that story because it reminds me so much of God's power in my life and work in my heart that has led me to this point, right where I needed to be this summer.  The conversation lasted till lights out, which brings me to now, talking about how we came here and how our lives have changed and how we want to see that change in those who are close to us.  And now I lay in bed typing, and I can't help but rejoice at the day God gave me.  I don't know if I've ever spent so much of one day relating to people, but God has gone out of his way to dump these blessings of conversations and interactions into my life in one day to strengthen and encourage me.  After waking up this morning, I felt rejuvenated and ready to pick this up again after feeling a little dry over a few periods last week.   But God is supplying every need of mine.  I can't get over how much of a blessing it has been.  I love it especially because conversations have reminded so much of what God has done in me and how ridiculous he has blessed me over the past 6 months especially.  Bringing me to Jax, salvaging my grades when my effort and attention was focused elsewhere, giving me an internship of improbable scheduling.  It's unreal.  And now his work in me here to draw me to Him, the one who's worth it even if he didn't give me anything but himself.  The greatest gift in all of this is that my ransom's been paid by one who loved me enough to die for me, to bring me to God.  That alone is enough to transform my life through his work in me.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.  Praise God.  Just thought I'd share.

ponderings

So the other day, I was sitting around, and I started thinking..

The main gist of what I was thinking was something like this..
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HIIIIIIIII TREVORRRRRRRRRRRRRR

So there I was..

..on my first day of classes for my junior year of college.  It's been a whirlwind, considering a week ago I had just said goodbye to my CTI team after we debriefed in Minnesota about our return from a month of playing concerts and sharing the Gospel in Honduras.  Wow.  That's about it for a description.  Two very different worlds.  I spent the first couple days back in a haze, and now coming back to college so soon has whipped me back into my "normal" life.  It's been good being in the apartment with the guys, bonding over so-far successful cooking and cat youtube videos, but I don't know that I'm prepared for another year of college.  It seems rather dull and lifeless compared to the last month of my life.  But, I've been put here to do something, so that's what I'm trying to do.  Something.  Hopefully new and not a rehashed, re-run of another year.  I have a lot to write (I think?), but not sure where to start  or find the motivation to do it, even in all this free time before homework kicks in.

Psalm 89:33 "but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness."

I don't think that the flag's got something to do with being free

It is unfortunate that this falls on the Fourth of July, but I guess it holds incentive to finally let out what I'd been thinking for quite a while.  I wrote a somewhat lengthy and perhaps marginally offensive blog about frustrations with America's confusion of Christianity and patriotism.  And subsequently decided not to post it. There's a fine line between criticism and blasting, and I may have been getting a little carried away. I'll try to restrain myself here.

 I recognize America's greatness when it comes to freedoms and opportunities for a better life it has provided for millions, but I also recognize bigotry, hatred, and "progress" which mar America.  Sadly, it seems many Christians put patriotism as an essential part of their faith and have the audacity to think America has special status in God's eyes.  There have been great sacrifices for my freedom in this country, and for that I am hugely grateful. But I cannot reconcile the importance that America has taken in evangelical Christianity.  God does not love America more than any other nation.  Personally, I don't believe God cares about nations, apart from drawing people from every  nation to worship him around his throne when Revelations is fulfilled. I was about to go off on the huge dichotomies in the Pledge of Allegiance when I stopped myself.  All I'll say is that liberty and justice for all apparently had an asterisk and indivisible was a flop.

I have a grandmother who cries every time she hears the Battle Hymn of the Republic who just stopped by our house wearing a patriotic T-shirt and talking about the excellent patriot music on TBN on Saturday.  I have an uncle who served in Vietnam.  Thus, I mean no disrespect.  I simply ask that you evaluate your beliefs about your faith and your country and make sure that the proper distinctions are made.  Submit to authority, but don't make it an idol.  Keep your loyalty to your Savior much, much greater than  your loyalty to a temporary, earthly institution just as prone to evil as every human heart that governs it and resides in it.

Jesus wasn't American. 


*check this out as well
http://www.thebanner.org/features/article/?id=3363

(news-channel-y action-sounding theme music ) Summer Update!

Good evening.  Well, the normal part of my summer is over, I believe.  I spent the first month splitting time between milking mornings* and working at a greenhouse afternoons/evenings** until they ran out of hours for me.  For the last two weeks, I have continued to milk in the morning and worked for my dad in the afternoons.  And now, stuff starts to happen real quick.  This week, I milk mornings and nights Monday-Saturday while my boss and his family take a vacation and attend a wedding.***  One time, I wrestled a bear.  On top of this, I'll be teaching a guitar class at Dordt Discovery Days (a week-long summer camp for junior-high kids), which despite planning and the best intentions, always throughs huge curveballs and leaves plenty of awkward silences while Jordan Vogel and I attempt to implant music and learning in these children entrusted with us for two and a half hours every day.  Not only that, but we perform on Friday night to show all the parents how much**** the children have learned in the last week.  Hopefully, that goes alright and we can survive the week without too much crying and yelling and dirty diapers or whatever it is that junior high kids do.  After that, my family departs for the border of Minnes-oh-ta and Canad-eh for a few days canoe-ing***** and camping among a few of the thousand of lakes.  I'm really looking forward to this after the awesomeness of the father-son 8th-grade cadet trip way back when. 
After returning from that, most likely on Saturday, I'll have the weekend, Monday and Tuesday before I leave for CTI, the centerpiece of my summer.  Stoked!  Carpenter's Tool's International is an organization that sends music teams to other countries, primarily but not limited to those in Central America and East Asia, which give concerts and partner with organizations like Youth for Christ in sharing the Gospel.  I'll spend two weeks in Willmar, MN, training with my new band mates for four weeks in Hondurras.  I'm currently attempting to learn our songs******, and attempting to review the Spanish that I "learned" in high school.  Turns out, I remember some words and stuff, but as far as actually speaking and listening in a conversation goes, I'm in trouble.  We'll see what happens with that.  After I return, I'll have a week before returning to Dordt.  And that'll be my summer.  Crazy.  I'm excited to see what God will do both as our team trains and as we voyage down to Hondurras, and I'm excited to see what God is doing and will do in my every day life, especially after I return.  In the meantime, pray that God will work in the hearts of those we'll encounter, will work in our hearts as we do the stuff we do, that my fundraising will be met, and that the Hondurrans won't run in fear from the palest, blondest, and whitest person ever to enter their country.


* Everyone thinks I milk at an awful time like four in the morning, but I actually start at 8:30.  For some reason, Terry chose to milk at 9 and 9 instead of 4 and 4 which is the greatest thing I've ever heard of for a night-owl like me. 

** The length of my day depended on how much work there was to do.  Usually, I got off between 5 and 8, until the last week, when I was getting off at 3:30.

*** Do not read the next sentence.  It does not contribute in any way to the content of this blog.  This is a test to make sure that you are reading the asterisked items, as they are an important explanatory tool for this blog entry. 

**** or how little.  But hopefully how much.

***** canoe-ing? canoing?  canoeing? canoe7hlmx4ing?

****** 14 of the 18 songs are in Spanish.  Despite playing a musical instrument, which is not bound by languages, I am required to have the words memorized.  I think it's going okay so far, but there's a lot of suelo to cover yet.

EVERYBODY'S DYING

Remember that awful news a few days ago about the baby bird that got stepped on while I was milking?


It happened again.


yesterday.


I didn't witness it this time, but there was a new baby bird, so I quickly picked it up and moved it away.  A minute later it came back, this time out of my reach.  I resigned myself to let it be as it sat on the black water hose.  I never should have turned my back.


After finishing the opposite side of the parlor, I looked back, and the bird was gone.  My heart started beating faster.  When the cow was finally done milking and released, my worst fears were confirmed when a ball of feathers lay where the heiffer's foot once stood.

It's been a rough week.