There's always room for ice cream

It's almost summer; can you feel it? Final exams and those last homework assignments are looming on the horizon; and even though snowflakes still flutter in the air, the promise of warmer weather, sunshine and lakes is there. I thoroughly enjoy summer, and I think part of this enjoyment can be attributed to the two summers I spent serving congregations on summer teams through AFLBS. During my second summer, I had the privilege of serving on the North Barnabas team - without a doubt, one of the most amazing summers ever. We climbed mountains, hiked through woods and swamps; we taught VBS and ministered at family camps; we camped during an intense rainstorm and weeded gardens; we canvased neighborhoods and witnessed to people on the streets . . . The opportunities of service we had that summer were such a blessing to me; as well as the memories we made that stay with me to this day.

My teammate Heidi said lots of things that summer - but two phrases in particular have stuck with me throughout the past two years. The first is this: There is always room for ice cream. For those of you who have served on a summer team, you know that you eat well . . . actually, beyond well. Many times, when it was time for desert, I already felt like a beached whale. But, Heidi encouraged me to eat the ice cream, because "there's always room" for it. I like this mantra and still practice it today. :) The second phrase that has remained with me is this: My life should be a summer team. Every minute of every day while serving on a summer team is spent in service; whether that service is through teaching VBS, counseling teens at camp, weeding gardens, hearing people's stories and encouraging them in the faith, prayer . . . The list goes on and on. When serving on a summer team, or other ministry, we are so intentional about what we do and how we invest into other people. Why should our everyday experiences be any different?

Over the past month or so, I've been reading through 2 Corinthians, a book I read during that summer of service on North Barnabas. Several verses were underlined, specific encouragements to the Corinthian believers as well as to us to make our faith and love known to those around us. As I read through the book, I was reminded yet again that my life is to be a summer team; my life is to be spent investing into others, to ministering to their needs and encouraging them in their faith. I am not to do these "servicey" things only when on a team or with a missions group; as a believer, I must be doing them every day! May these verses encourage you to remember these truths as well, to not wast the precious time the Lord has given to us.

"Openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you." - 2 Corinthians 8:24

"Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" - 2 Corinthians 9:13-15

"The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgement and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another . . . Be hospitable to one another without complaint. As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ . . ." - 2 Peter 4:7-11

I surrender all, but...

“As much as I say I’ve put it in God’s hands, I still wonder when He’s gonna let me in on His plan”

Do any of you ever feel like that? That was a quote from a good friend this past week, and she hit exactly what I’ve felt for the past year. As different situations approach me in this life I realize that I cannot control everything, and being a control freak…that’s not very much fun! I like to have anything in order and making sense, especially my own life. When such situations come up, I know the only thing I can do is pray about them and surrender all to God.

But that’s easier said than done…

I don’t know about you, but I’m notorious for “surrendering all” at God’s feet and then when something goes wrong I take it back up into my own hands. It’s nice to say that I trust God when everything’s fine and dandy, but when things look bad I feel the need to provide for myself. This has been my thought all year, when just about anything which could go wrong in my life without drastically altering everything did. I’ve spent many hours crying out to God “I don’t understand, help me understand” in my need to know everything and have control of my life. During those times I never felt any comfort, and I didn’t like the feeling that God wasn’t going to let me in on what He was doing in my life.

That is until one night when I looked up and saw a painting of my favorite verses, Proverbs 3:5-6. They say, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” It was the “lean not on your own understanding” which spoke to me that night, because so many times we rely on what we know and can grasp with our feeble minds, instead of trusting God to do the impossible in our life.

What do you think would happen if we could really, truly trust God with everything and not try to interfere by telling Him what we think would be best? As my pastor once said, “There’d be a lot less heartache.” When we rely on our own strength and understanding, the only thing we’re going to find waiting for us is failure. However, when we trust that God has His hand in our life for a purpose— even if everything seems to be going wrong— our reward will be more than we could ever imagine.

Hey Guys

Sorry, I know I'm late... On a happier note, I finished up my first year of college yesterday (2 days ago now...)! But I started work at 8 am Saturday, and was putting in docks in the wind and rain from 8 to 5. Hopefully the weather gets a bit nicer. So I had a really good idea for a post, but chose not to write down my idea, and now it has been forgotten. So I'm going to just talk a bit about daily devotions. Specifically how/when. For me, I've been doing a walk through the Bible type thing with a group of people from my hometown. We're all at college, or working in the case of 2, so we communicate about the daily readings through a blog we set up. The thing I really like about this is that it allows us to read when we are able to, and discuss it when able. I typically read while eating breakfast in the morning. Now that I'm finished with college and will be rushing off to work every morning because I overslept my alarm, I'm probably going to need to find a new time. Which is kind of the whole point of this rambling. Whatever you do for devotions, whether reading from the Bible, using a devotional book of some sort, or whatever it is that you do, it's important to set aside a specific time of the day to do that, and to have the same time for every day. It will be a lot easier to stay consistent with your readings if every day is the same than if you were just trying to fit it in here and there. So that's what I have for you this week. I just want to encourage you all to pick one time for devotions, one time that will work every day. I promise it will get a lot easier to A) remember them and B) get something out of them when you're consistent with your timing.

Striving to post on time next week,

Matt