Monday’s Journal Entry:
“Woke up after about 7 hours of sleep, ate one pack of instant oatmeal, packed everything up, and headed into the woods for about an hour of quiet time with God. After reading through 1 Timothy and recording my thoughts in my devo book, I just spent the remainder of the time in prayer.
Upon arriving at the base camp on Saturday, we were put to work setting up tents for all the groups. After that we went to the Community Center in nearby Elmsdale where we registered, ate a lasagna supper, and quickly got started into our first framing session.
On Saturday and Sunday combined, we had five framing sessions. W.I.L.D. does more than just send people out into the wilderness. It equips people with tools they can use to interpret the experiences they face and maximize their learning potential. Framing is all about preparing for anticipated experiences so that we can learn as much as possible from them.
Our main teacher was Dwight Peterson, one of the faculty from Baptist Bible College in Pennsylvania.
Okay people, here it is. Many of you have been waiting to hear about my wilderness trip in Canada three weeks ago. But under orders to keep quiet about my trip for two weeks and re-engage in life back here at home, I have refrained from giving too many details.
Finally, the time has come when I can begin to tell you about my experience in the Algonquin. I have been reflecting on the trip and processing the things I have learned, and I am more than ready to share my experience and encourage everyone who is able to participate in W.I.L.D. next year.
Here’s the group from Faith that went this year (from left to right): Eric, Thomas, Lance, Elisabeth, myself, and Natalie. The girls joined three other girls and formed a group, and we were joined by three guys from Northland International University (Cody, Aarin, and Charles), a leader from NIU (Chris), and a seminary student from Baptist Bible College (Ethan).
The trip technically started on Saturday, May 14, and lasted until Friday, May 20. However, Saturday and Sunday were devoted to classroom work. Prior to actually going into the wilderness, the leaders of W.I.L.D. “framed” our experiences so we would be better prepared for the things we would encounter through the week.
When I post to my blog this week, I will recount the activities from each day of the trip. Sunday’s post will be a summary of both Saturday’s and Sunday’s activities and classroom work. Monday through Friday, I will post my daily journal from each day during the trip. The posts are scheduled so that they will automatically appear each day on my blog so that you can follow along as if I was still on the trip right now. Thanks for your interest and for following along!
W.I.L.D. stands for Wilderness Institute of Leadership Development and is a program offered by Pilgrimage. Pilgrimage offers a variety of learning opportunities and great resources for churches and servicemen. W.I.L.D. consists of two days of class and five days in the wilderness. Pilgrimage also offers college credit for W.I.L.D. which can be received in conjunction with any of several participating schools. I HIGHLY recommend everything that Pilgrimage offers, and especially W.I.L.D. It’s well worth your time because it’s unlike any wilderness trip you might have been on. It’s wilderness at a whole new level.
Read about rest of the experience in these related posts:
W.I.L.D. 2011: Saturday/Sunday- Framing the Experience
W.I.L.D. 2011: Monday- Into the Wilderness
W.I.L.D. 2011: Tuesday- The Unforgiving Tim River
W.I.L.D. 2011: Wednesday- Solo Day
W.I.L.D. 2011: Thursday- Water, Wildlife, and Warmth
W.I.L.D. 2011: Friday- The End of the Adventure
On February 2, Faith Baptist Bible College had a rare snow day. Actually, as rare as they are, it was my second one in two years of school at Faith. But still, a snow day at Faith is an indication that the weather is really bad and the roads are sidewalk are not the safest for travel.
Well, unlike the snow day in 2009-2010, the weather on Wednesday, February 2 wasn’t as bad as the forecast had shown only the day before when the announcement was made. But it was still bad enough that churches cancelled their mid-week services.
So for the second year in a row, several of us students were left wondering what to do since we couldn’t go to church. Yes, we could study, or we could enjoy the extra time off and have some fun with friends on campus.
But for us students, church on Wednesday is not a routine that we are obligated to perform. It’s an encouraging, re-energizing activity to which we enjoy being faithful out of an obligation to glorify God and uplift our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We were genuinely disappointed that we could not go to church that evening.
So for the second year in a row, we instituted our makeshift “homemade church” and started inviting everyone on-campus to join us. No, we are not the local church, nor did we claim to be, but as members of the universal church of Christ, we decided that our Wednesday night alternative could fittingly be dubbed “homemade church.”
The texts went out, invitations were given verbally, and plans were made for an evening of prayer, worship, and fellowship that we would normally enjoy at our churches. Last year we had less than 20 people join us for prayer and a devotional, but this year 48 students showed up in the student center- almost a fifth of the on-campus student body! What an encouragement it was to see so many people come together to worship on an evening when they could have done something else with their time.
We started off by singing several choruses and hymns. We had a guitar and I also accompanied on my accordion, an instrument that I love to play but don’t have many opportunities to. On a cold, blustery evening, it was heartwarming to see and hear 48 mouths echoing the glory of God. The smiles on people’s faces communicated a love for God and a joy that only He can give on a day like that.
Intermingled with the songs were testimonies from the students. People voiced the love, grace, faithfulness, and ministry of God in their lives. Too often at school we get so busy learning about the Bible and talking about God in class that we forget to talk about how God is working in our lives outside of class. It was so neat set aside the topic of studying for the evening and hear how God was working in hearts outside of the classroom.
Finally, we ended the night with prayer. We broke up into several small groups and prayed for each other. Once again, it was encouraging to see a room full of students with their heads bowed offering up intercessions and supplications with thanksgiving on behalf of one another. It was like the Student Missionary Fellowship’s prayer band on Monday nights, only this time the students were praying for each other. It was the perfect way to end the day and prepare for the resuming of classes on Thursday.
The local church always has first priority. But sometimes there are times like Wednesday, February 2, when it’s just not possible to go to church, and God is still honored when believers of like faith join together to worship Him. As Hebrews 10:25 says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Well, now that school has been out for three weeks and I have had time to reflect on the school year while accomplishing things at home, I think it’s well past time (now that I have more time) to start posting stories and snippets from my past year at school. They won’t be in any specific order, but as I think of the stories I will record them here.
God was so good to me this year and He gave me many opportunities to learn, serve, teach, and lead at school. Hopefully I can use my blog to communicate the love, joy, and peace that I experienced, the patience, kindness, and goodness with which I was encouraged, and the faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control toward which I was challenged.
Life at Faith Baptist Bible College is definitely an experience, a valuable one. There are so many things to share, just from this last year. My first year was filled with learning opportunities as I adjusted to college life at Faith and got settled into my higher-learning environment. Now I’m weathered and learned, and my year was about utilizing every opportunity God gave me to grow and help others grow. So to God be the glory for what He has done.
For today I thought it would be appropriate to just receive a reminder of Biblical love- God’s love. Immediately I went to 1 John 4. I love this chapter and reading, studying, and meditating on it never grows old.
To keep from writing out a sermon, I’m going to focus on verses 7-11 even though I read the whole chapter:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (NKJV)
We often emphasize the importance of unconditional love, but as I read through this today, I realized that John is promoting conditional love. He talks about unconditional love, yes, but he’s talking about God’s unconditional love.
Think about it. We are human and therefore we are technically incapable of expressing unconditional love. As Romans 3:10-12 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one” (NKJV). If we are incapable of doing any good or living righteously or seeking after God, we are incapable of unconditional love!
So how should we then love? First of all we have to remember that perfect love only comes from God, so we can only reflect God’s love to those around us. Even then, we cannot fully love as much as God does- unconditionally. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” We must be born again as children of God before we can love others.
Secondly, “God is love.” Do we truly love fellow believers? We should constantly expose them to the things of God. God should often be the topic of our conversation, and the thing that binds friends together should be a focus on God because God is love. Any other “love” will not truly hold believers together or cause them to grow.
On the other hand, do we truly love unbelievers? We should constantly expose them to the gospel of God. How can we say we love others when true love never comes up in our interactions with them? “God is love,” and unbelievers are without that perfect love if we don’t show them God. Exhort, encourage, and evangelize others through love by making God a priority.
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us…” I love this verse (sorry about the pun)! God is the perfect example of love, and Jesus Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection was the perfect showing of love! All believers are sons of God, but Jesus is the only begotten son of God, and he sacrificed His life for us. Wow! He “sent His Son to be the propitiation of our sins.” God did this for us, and without that gift of love we could never be capable of showing love.
Therefore, and thirdly, we must love conditionally. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us…” Once again, we cannot love on our own, and we didn’t, but God loved us! “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Love conditionally. Love because God loves us. I should love God because He loves me and I should love other because He loves me. I should not and cannot love others unconditionally despite how they might live. But I can and should love others conditionally despite how they might live because God unconditionally loves me and He unconditionally loves them.
And as a final reminder: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1, NKJV).
Happy Valentine’s Day! I love you God because you loved me. Thank you.
All right…so the next time you feel burdened down with your load of sins, iHave the perfect solution for you (no pun intended, but since I left it, I guess it becomes intentional). iThink you just might like this…Actually, iDidn’t come up with this solution but iAm referring you to it. Introducing (drum roll please) the new confession app for the iPhone, appropriately named “Confession: A Roman Catholic App“. That’s right. If you sin, you can go straight to your iPhone to take care of your problem and entirely bypass any other system. Bye-bye confession booths- you have gone out of style.
But seriously, how much time and money does it take you to go to your local Catholic confession booth and confess your sins to the priest? This popular app is available for a one-time fee of $1.99! Come on, how can you turn that down? It’s inexpensive, convenient, and includes the following:
-Custom examination of Conscience based upon age, sex, and vocation (single, married, priest, or religious)
– Multiple user support with password protected accounts
– Ability to add sins not listed in standard examination of conscience
– Confession walkthrough including time of last confession in days, weeks, months, and years
– Choose from 7 different acts of contrition
– Custom interface for iPad
– Full retina display support
(http://www.appsafari.com/religion/15493/confession-a-roman-catholic-app/)
Now understand that this app in no way gives you a license to sin. Just because you now have a “fold-out” confession booth tucked neatly away in your pocket doesn’t mean you can sin whenever and just pull out your phone when you’re finished with your deed. One other thing, in case you’re worried someone else might find out about your sins, it is designed with security features to protect your data so only you and your phone will know what you’ve been up to. Still, that doesn’t give you a right to just sin whenever and to any extent.
Okay, seriously though, I will be serious now. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is not a joke, but then again, it is. Some clever person has successfully melded man’s depravity with, well, man’s depravity (addiction to apps) and the result is this app for confessing your sins in a more convenient manner. I don’t have the time or sanity to get into an explanation behind the whole history and significance of Catholic confession booths, but suffice it to say that they are unnecessary anyway. The booths and the app are both things that we don’t need. But how will we confess our sins then?
As always, God has come up with the perfect solution. Any surprise? Check it out: “Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17, NKJV). We have immediate access to God to confess our sins! That’s right, GOD! The Creator of the World,
Not the average goal for a born-again believer, huh? But why not? It’s a worthy goal on second thought, is it not?
Perhaps an explanation would be helpful here before you entirely tune me out. Proverbs 29:27 says, “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked” (NKJV). Does that clear up any confusion you might have had?
After reading this verse in my personal devotions with God one day, I thought to myself, “I want to be an abomination!” Of course, I want to be an abomination of the latter sort- “an abomination to the wicked.” Oh may I never be “an abomination to the righteous.” Those are the ones whom I wanted to be counted among.
For the past several months, I have been working on memorizing the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7. It has been slow going, but I’m learning from it, thus fulfilling the main objective. As I meditate on the significance of Proverbs 29:27, I can’t help but also think of Matthew 5:11-12 which says, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before me” (NKJV).
My desire is not to go around and to make everyone hate me, but rather to be so much like Christ and so much unlike the world that the world doesn’t like it. If Christ is repulsive to sinful mankind then I want the same to be true of me. At the same time, I want to be an abomination in such a way that the unsaved see their own sinful condition and the abomination that they are to God.
The bottom line? “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2, NKJV).
God, make me an abomination to the wicked so that I may expose others to your glory.
Wielding a hammer, the master firmly struck the awl through the soft flesh and into the door post. The servant bravely suppressed a scream that tried to escape his mouth as pain seared through his ear lobe. But he was not afraid or distressed by the situation. No, he was full of joy and pride because of the significance of the moment. This man just made the transition from a servant to a bondservant. He would never be free again, and he had no rights, but he was happy. He was happy because he had chosen to be compelled to serve his master…for the rest of his life.
On Monday night during Faith’s SMF (Student Missionary Fellowship) prayer band, I was challenged with the idea of being a bondservant. It wasn’t the first time I had heard a message or devotional on the topic, and I was already familiar with the ancient practice of piercing a bondservant’s ear to signify his choice to continue serving his master, but I had never thought about the significance of a bondservant not having any rights. Mr. Roger McNamara, a missionary with Baptist Mid Missions, spoke to us about the importance of giving up our rights. I can’t remember exactly, but I think he referred to the text of Scripture that gives the account of James’ and John’s mother asking Jesus to let her sons sit on either side of Him in heaven (Mark 10:35-45; Matthew 10:20-28). He challenged us to give up our rights as servants of Jesus Christ. That is a sign of true greatness.
Paul was one of the greatest men in the New Testament. But why was he so great? He knew who he was and what God required of him. Paul declared himself a servant of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:1; Galatians 1:10;
The subtitle of my website is “Serving the God I Love.” This blog willl hopefully be another way I can do that through the tool of writing. Just as an instrument is capable of playing more than one melody or emitting more than one style of music, I want to “play” more than one melody for Christ, and my love for writing is just another style of music that I want to use for Christ.
The sub-purposes of this blog are several. I want to use it to communicate my beliefs and convictions in a biblical manner as a resource for others who want to know my stand on different issues. Secondly, I want to use it as a personal method of learning, recalling things that I learn each week in school, church, and ministry so that the concepts I am taught will be further ingrained in my mind. Finally, I want this blog to be an avenue by which my family, friends, and church can stay up-to-date on what God is teaching me and doing in my life. If you are one of those people, thank you for your prayers and frequent words of encouragement.
May God be glorified through this blog, and I pray that others will also be challenged and encouraged through it.