Baja, Mexico!

I’m amazed of what God has invited us to be part of..Yes…a mission trip…to some people it may sound as “Ahhh. it’s another trip to do good, another Katrina/Haiti type of ‘help the poor & do good’ effort, something to help the less fortunate, to feel good about yourself, on some level it’s just a way to justify being a Christian or simply look cool”….. Believe me, This goes far beyond that if not the opposite!

God has presented an opportunity to 10 HS students & 2 adults from Faithbridge UMC to be part of His work in Baja, Mexico for almost 2 weeks from 07/11-07/23. The first week, the group will be focused on both helping a local ministry build a children/youth camp in the mornings as well as leading a VBS program for the local children in the evenings. The second week, we will face the wilderness, our focus will be developing our student’s leadership skills & responsibility. Throughout the whole trip each student has a defined role that they have been preparing & praying for months.

Sometimes you see something or go somewhere that when it’s over you think that this place or that thing was so amazing that on some level it changed you. You get excited & enthusiastic for days, weeks, or even months but most times it stops there. Our main prayer for this trip is that everyone we interact with as well as each and everyone of us would not return the same, but would be changed FOREVER! Not because of anything we do but because of Christ & Him using us to to reach out to His people & everyone was faithful to accept that invitation.

I am so very proud of each & everyone that poured their heart preparing for this trip. I am so grateful of each parent that allowed their sons or daughters to be part of this adventure. We are all beyond excited & very humbled to see & be part of what God has planned in Mexico!

I ask that YOU too would be excited for us! I also ask that YOU pray for:

Everybody we interact with especially the children: Ben Stuart recently talked about God’s priorities. Our prayer is that even though we have a set of tasks that we need to complete that we would always put people before tasks.

Teaching moments: Please pray the adult leaders would have the wisdom to create & cease those unique moments that we can help the students learn something valuable that they would always remember.

Our heart, Pride: The message we carry is so valuable so please pray that our hearts are bowed before God as we do our absolute best in delivering this message. We are saved by grace & grace alone…we are in Mexico because of what Christ has done & because of His sovereign plan to reconcile His people.

Our eyes, Love & Compassion: Pray that we would see the children we interact with through God’s eyes! To really be the hands & feet of Jesus so we can truly serve & love them!

Strength, both Spiritual & Physical The trip will be exhausting on all levels so please pray that we would be faithful in completing God’s work to the end. Pray that we would start strong and finish stronger!

Cindy: She just started her third trimester carrying our first baby girl, Adeline Reign that we are so excited to meet in September, so please pray for both her health as well as Adi’s!

The perfect Godly mix of Risk & Safety for: Phil, Abby, Matt, Steph, Lauren, Alli, Alli, Bennett, Alex, Stephen, Nathan, Ryan & Ash

“As each has received a gift, employ it in serving one another, as good managers of the grace of God in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10”

In Christ…for the win!

She cut me some tomatoes!!!

Isaiah 41:10
“So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”

Two years ago she was diagnosed with kidney Cancer and God was amazing and coached this family through the surgery & recovery with his promise in Isaiah.

Two years later she is again diagnosed with lung cancer and is given 1-3 years. They are now in Houston depending on faithful friends overseas to take care of their 3 kids.

They still laugh from the heart; they crack the funniest jokes, they say “Bless You” and I shiver!

I know if that was me I would be so mad at God for thinking He has not completed His healing promise. But not this family, they cling to 2 Corinthians 1:3-11.

They pray fervently 2 Corinthians 1:10

“He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us”.

Last night Cindy & I had the privilege of sharing dinner with this family, one of the Godliest, most encouraging & inspiring couple I have met in my life. We ran out of tomatoes for the burgers & she insisted on stopping what she was doing and started to wash and cut me some tomatoes.

I’m thinking “WOW. I think I will be ok with no tomatoes!! You have much bigger things to worry about”

I then realized, this is the type of faith that we are invited to live by. We have been extended grace. We are forgiven and made free so we can go out and share the good news with the world. We are invited to live with the hope and confidence that whatever comes next will be ok even if God chooses it’s time to say “Well done, good and faithful servant!“ Matt 25:21

What is the point anyway if it’s not all for His glory!?

I’m hurting for this family yet I am so fired seeing how God is using this to bring hope and encouragement, not just in their lives but in the lives of the people they touch.

You are a sovereign God! The alpha & omega. May we live our lives in bringing you glory, may we be a tool that You use to speak Life & Hope in this broken world for there is no greater purpose in life!

Race horse or Wild horse

Have you ever heard or saw something that seemed OK for the first few moments but something inside you warns you that something is off but you just let it pass by uncommented?

Today I heard somebody talking about emotions and that we should not control / alter the way we feel because it would be untrue to our hearts.  Most people ”specially romantic people that put allot of thought in that kind of stuff“ without much thought or hesitation would tend to agree with this statement. At that time, I didn’t comment in agreement or disagreement because I simply wasn’t comfortable yet I had no good reason to object.

Several hours later in the evening after completely forgetting about the whole thing I felt God leading me back to that statement giving me a vision of 2 horses; a race horse and a wild horse. I heard God in my heart asking me, which one in this situation would you rather be? A wild horse or a race horse??

For some reason his voice was clear…a race horse!…..because a race horse reaches his destination, has a goal, is focused, is dedicated, and allocates every muscle and thought to winning the race. On the other hand, a wild horse is confused, random, is not guaranteed to reach anywhere and will most likely cause his rider to fall!

How does this relate to controlling how we feel? I believe we can still be open and pour out our hearts while being true if we control which direction it sprints, just like a race horse after being trained.

Some would argue that not knowing where you end could be adventurous and fun. I say if I know that I’m a winner I can put in my all and enjoy the adventure along the way with the guarantee of winning.

Choose to travel a road that you are called to, do not a settle for a random road, it’s a waste of time!

So lame..

Today on my way to work on the high way in the car my CD player was screaming Darlene Zschech’s version of Agnus Dei.
If you want a song that can remind you how truely holy and worthy is the God we worship, this is it!
It’s December 30th, so I was reflecting on this past year, trying to think what I needed to work on in 2009. Of course with a song like that playing I 
couldn’t help but envision me changing the world in 2009 and thinking it was as easy as listening to a good song and just dreaming & believing it was that simple!

All that was just great, until some car just totally cut me off & I had to slam my breaks driving 70mph barely rescuing my front left fenders from
being crushed….

…It’s SCARY how fast everything that was going on inside me just evaporated, disappeared, just vanished!
The only thought I can think of is that I needed to catch up with that car. I would then give them this scary
look making myself look as mean as possible! Get them to think they just cut off the scariest serial killer in town! My look would then
penetrate their hearts and mind and make them repent and drive safely for the rest of my life…

As I was reaching to my gearstick to start downshifting to catch up I suddenly came to this realization…How lame did I think my God is!
My heart is so divided, I am so weak & helpless to think I am ready to change the world when I can hardly commit to spending some quality time with God when I’m “in the mood” driven by a good song playing.

I realized that in order to get to a point where I can live up to His expectations I need to do much more than just listen to some good music! I started praying protection from being just another lame ad-hoc Christian that lives an illusion of living in passion. The idea scares me!
I pray for a consistant true rock-solid passion that truely can change the world.

Trusting Christ…

Here is another thought that Ben’s recent talk made me realize…

If a good friend comes to you and requested to borrow some money for something crutial and then he/she return the money before the time they promised …. wouldn’t you trust them when they come back and request something else?? It’s that simple…You trust their word, because they proved it to you!

So if you believe that Jesus came, suffered, died, LOVED, cared enough to come once for you…why is it hard to belive that he will come again? Isn’t that common sense … It’s not just His word (which is more than enough) that He will come again but He also proved it by coming the first time……

Speak! Or forever hold your peace!

This is what’s been going on in my head recently….feels like an ocean of thoughts & ideas in my head. Been talking for a while about having the discipline to make it a habit to engage more….Engage what? Myself, my thoughts…my God!

Recently I was talking to my brother about how much time in life with no passion & no fruits! I keep thinking & hoping for things to change but I forget that I need to induce that…need to jump start it somehow…I trust God to lead it…to nurture it…

I feel that my greatest weakness lies within the separated thoughts and split mind/ideas that live within me…..when I am able to control and submit all that together….then is when I think GOD’s plan in my life will start to unfold..

Ahh..another post with no sense except to myself!!! I need to work on that..practice…..

“You’ve been more than a friend of me…..fight off my enemies…you spoken truth over my life….”….Christy Nockels

Great Pie Place!

I was out on a dinner date with my wife the other night and stopped by that AWESOME little pie place in the woodlands, TX called pie town.

I got a chance to chat a little with the owner, Debra. Very nice lady that’s got an amazing talent in baking the best pies. The cool thing is that it’s not just pies they make, they also have a lunch & dinner menu.

You owe it to yourself to check it out if you happen to be in the area!

Chilling in Nicaragua for 1 more day

Vacationing for 3 days in Nicaragua, its great, a bit scary (more later), but nice, Can´t upload any photos yet but will do shortly when im back in the states.

Wait for the details later ..

-Ash

Just found out about Xobni

Just found out about xobni. Seems very promising. Anybody knows a good tool (hopefully free) to fight spam on outlook?

Can’t Sleep

It’s still early on a Friday morning, been up since 4:15.. I just can’t sleep.. I’m sitting here listening to the heavy rain & KSBJ on the radio and thinking about the upcoming few days.

The words that’s been stuck in my head the past few days is LIVING IN PASSION…. What it takes, How do you get there, How to actually embrace that phase of life you’re at and make the most out of it…with no future regrets..

What do I want to do while I’m alive? I think, whatever it is; I want to do it passionately….I believe that passion is what drives strength…in and around us…

People talk about making a difference but unfortunately many have lives have been wasted. I believe God uses us in small ways and as we prove ourselves we are trusted for more…

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is
unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” Luke 16:10

“You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things” Matthew 25:21

In whatever I’m doing, I do not want God to say this about me…

“I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap
before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one” Ezekiel 22:30

I want to be a man that stands in a gap for others…I believe thats how you make a difference..

Sun is breaking through the dark clouds & I have to go jump in the shower to get ready for work but I invite you to Live on a mission…mine is to To know Him and Make Him Known and let His dreams be a reality in my life.

-Ash