Narrow Road

Well, it has been quite a long time since I last posted anything. It's been a crazy last month of school. I have had a huge project to do, and lots of other homework. I have won an intramural soccer championship, and many other things. It has been awesome! The other day at devos, we watched a video by Paul Washer talking at a youth camp about the narrow way. It's an amazing video. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncEhCvrVgQ

He is talking about Matthew 7:13-14. Not only is there a narrow gate to get into Heaven, but also a narrow road. Saying a prayer and asking Jesus into your heart is not the way. You must live and walk on the narrow road so that you will get to the narrow gate. Each of us sins. There is no way around that, but living for Christ is not about being perfect. It's about trusting in the Lord to keep you on the straight path. Live for Him in your actions and your words.

In Christ,
Brian

Chris's death

Hey everyone,

Well this weekend was bitter sweet. On the one hand, it was Easter, and I was able to celebrate it with some great friends at Adam's house. Mary, Sarah, Adam and I went hot tubbing and hit some golf balls and did some other fun stuff. Christ is risen, and He lives in us and loves us. Then on the other hand, I heard that one of my teammates and my friends, Chris Freeman, committed suicide. This came as a huge shock. I have dealt with a few circumstances of death, but nothing like this. He was one of my friends, and he meant a lot to me. This made me think about all the great times I had with him, and also about what I could have done to help him. If only he had known that. I know that I shouldn't feel like it was my fault, but I can't help thinking that I could have done something more.

For every tear I cry for his death though, I look up to Heaven and see my Savior smiling at me. It's amazing to know that He loves us no matter what. And today, while I have been writing this post, the song "Hold my heart" by Tenth Avenue North came on. Here are the lyrics:

How long must I pray
Must I pray to You?
How long must I wait
Must I wait for you?
How long ‘til I see your face
See you shining through

I'M ON MY KNEES
BEGGING YOU TO NOTICE ME
I'M ON MY KNEES
FATHER, WILL YOU TURN TO ME

ONE TEAR IN THE DRIVING RAIN
ONE VOICE IN THE SEA OF PAIN
COULD THE MAKER OF THE STARS
HEAR THE SOUND OF MY BREAKING HEART
ONE LIFE, THAT'S ALL I AM
RIGHT NOW I CAN BARELY STAND
IF YOU'RE EVERYTHING YOU SAY YOU ARE
WOULD YOU COME CLOSE AND HOLD
MY HEART

I've been so afraid, afraid to close my eyes
So much can slip away before I say goodbye
But if there's no other way
I'm done asking why


I'M ON MY KNEES
BEGGING YOU TO TURN TO ME
I'M ON MY KNEES
FATHER, WILL YOU RUN TO ME

So many questions without answers
Your promises remain
I can't see but I'll take my chances
To hear you call my name
To hear you call my name

This song is right where I am. I broke down on Easter morning and just cried. It was really tough to know that I would never see Chris's smiling face again. But I do know that God is holding me. No matter how bad things get, I can always turn to Him! He is holding me right now, and that's all that's holding me. I can feel His loving hands around me, keeping me from falling down. It's amazing! I know that I can't waste this time. I know that I have to learn from this. I have learned that no matter what I do, I will do my best to get to know people and lead them to my Savior. Many people don't know Him personally, and I think that God can use me to bring them to Him. So that's what I'm gonna do. No matter what, I will live for the One who saved me and who holds me up now! He deserves my all and want to know Him even better than I do now.

Our Christ rose on the third day. He is alive inside of us today. Don't go with the flow; step out and make a difference in someone's life. Who knows, maybe one little word can lead them to Christ. So, don't forget Chris Freeman, but instead use his death to let God use you.

In Christ,

Brian

Prayer

As this new healthcare bill is put into practice there is one thing that I want to touch on. I don't care whether it's the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. I do know that abortion is wrong though. Killing innocent children is against God's will for us and for this country. This new bill will be supporting abortion and even make doctors practice it. In light of this, I would ask everyone to pray for our country. Pray for our leaders and their discernment. Whether you like or dislike our President and his decisions, he is our leader, and we need to pray for him and support him. Our country needs our prayers more than ever. So don't just sit around complaining about what's wrong with him or his practices, pray for guidance.

Prayer is a powerful thing. It can do miracles! I have seen it happen. So earnestly pray for God's hand in this time of need and this fragile time. Let us not be thrown into war about this where each side won't support the other. I may not agree with everything that is happening, but there is no reason to go start a war over it. The best thing to do is pray that God will be merciful and that He will lead us back to our roots.

So pray and pray hard.

In Christ,
Brian Haefliger

How he loves us

God doesn't just like us. He doesn't throw us aside when we disobey him. He is a father. He loves us unconditionally. The song "How He loves us" I think captures God's love as well as we can.

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane,
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves.
(x2)

We are His portion and
He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption
by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns
violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way


He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
OH, how He loves
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Whoa, how He loves us
Whoa, how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us
He loves us
He loves us
He loves.

He is jealous for us. He is jealous for you. He desires you to be with Him forever in eternity! How great is that?! We may bend and break in this world, but no matter what He loves us, and nothing else matters.
Psalm 56 says, "Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life. On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations. Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise - in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me? I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."

This world may tell you that it loves you, but it's only a snake, treacherous in all it does. Instead of trusting in the world to take care of you, trust in the One who loves you unconditionally. Trust in your everlasting Father because He will never let them harm you. He will let you walk in the light of life. He will lead you to safety and to Him. He is awesome!

John 5

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir" the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Sometimes in my life I am just loafing around in my sorrow. I think that nobody is there for me and that there is nothing that I can do. But this isn't the case. Jesus is always there for me. We just have to have enough faith to stand up and walk. Jesus calls each of us to do things that we don't know how to do. But He knows that if we just trust him and have faith, all things are possible. It's an awesome feeling. When we are doing what God wants us to do, everything just seems to go much better. We don't sweat the small stuff, but instead we look ahead to what is better. It's awesome. So the next time you are stuck somewhere, pick up your mat and walk. Trust that God will lead you where you need to be.

Brian
(poop is respectable)

John 1

I have been reading in John the past few days, and have been completely enthralled by the first few chapters. John talks a lot about John the Baptist and what his job is, but he also uses this to show us who God is, and what He is like. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it... He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. WE have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." This is up through verse 14. He later goes on to tell about Jesus' first disciples, starting in verse 35. "The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "look the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour... The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida... When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Now I don't presume to know what all of this means, but there are a few parts that stick out to me. He says that those who received Jesus and believed His name, he gave the right to become children of God, not born of natural descent but born of God. Born of God!! How amazing is that?!?! We can be born of God. That in itself is amazing. He says that there was nothing before God and that from Him all has been created. He then goes on to talk about what it means to have faith, and what this faith will do. These three disciples gave up everything to go with Jesus. All they had was their fishing and their families, yet they were willing to drop it all for Jesus. Are we willing to do that? I know I'm not most of the time. I don't give Him everything. They are a great example of having the faith of a child. Children have no care in the world, but they have faith that their parents will take care of them. We need to believe in what our God can do and is doing. We need to understand that through God we can do anything. We don't need anything else! 

Just think about this passage, and reflect about what God is doing in your life. It's amazing!

Titus 3

"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." Titus 3:1-11 

This is what we should be doing. We are justified by grace alone, by Jesus Christ's sacrifice only! We used to be involved in pleasures of the flesh, but now that we are in Christ, we are to be lights to the rest of the world. 

What are you doing to be a light to the dark world? Just think about that for a while.  God loves us even though we are sinners. Why can't we do the same for others?

Our God is greater

Last night, at our house devos, the worship band played Chris Tomlin's song "Our God is Greater". Those of us who were there were in awe of the lyrics and what he was saying about our God.

Water you turned into wine;
Opened the eyes of the blind
There's no one like you
None like you

Into the darkness you shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There is no one like you
None like you

Our God is greater
Our God is stronger
God you are higher than any other
Our God is Healer
Awesome in power
Our God, Our God

Into the darkness you shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There is no one like you
None like you

Our God is greater
Our God is stronger
God you are higher than any other
Our God is Healer
Awesome in power
Our God, Our God

And if our God is for us
Then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us
Then what could stand against

The first part of this song shows the miracles of God, and what He can do. It goes on to talk about how we are saved. He shined into the darkness, and he brought us up out of the ashes. There is no one like our God. The chorus echoes that and it shows just how great He is. He is amazing; no one can compare! And then the bridge says if our God is for us who could stop us and if He is with us who can stand against us. How amazing is our God? Nobody can stand against Him.
Recently I have been overlooking the fact that I'm a sinner. Yeah, I say that I am, but do I really know that? I haven't really realized it until I failed big time. I failed in an important relationship and friendship. Up until now, I didn't understand just how big of a sinner I am and how much I need God. He really hasn't been the center of my life. I've been pushing Him away, and thinking that I'm good enough that I don't need Him. This isn't the man I was born to be. I wasn't born to be someone who pushes God out of my life. I was born to worship Him. I was born to praise my God, the one who gave me life, the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who is more powerful than anybody on this earth, the one who no man can rightly deny, the one from whom demons run. That is the God who I serve. He doesn't deserve to be shoved off to the side. He deserves to be put on a pedestal and worshipped because He is the King of Kings.
I have been looking at my life, and I have realized that I can't do this on my own. I need my God. This doesn't mean that I will not sin anymore, but it wipes the slate clean. I am forgiven for my flaws. But the bad habits are still here. Just because I have the Lord in my heart doesn't mean those old worldly habits are gone; in fact after a spiritual high, they tend to come back. I think the definition of Godly manhood is being able to fight those habits and being able to give them to God and let Him heal them.

If you haven't realized how sinful you are, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if God would accept you into His kingdom just based on your actions. Nobody can say that God would. But we have Jesus, who makes it so that we don't have to. He paid the price on the cross, and we are free. Use that freedom to praise God! Use your gifts to glorify the greatest God we could ever ask for!

In Christ,
Brian

I am a failure. I have failed many times this year already, and I continue to daily. Today I slept through my two hour class even though it was at 11:30. And I slept in much later than I should have. I have a test tonight that I need to study for, but I lost an opportunity for that. I also lost an opportunity to witness to my engineering group. They are non-Christians, and today could have been the best opportunity to witness to them. But I missed it. I let life slip by me, and that is a failure. I realize it now, and it doesn't feel good. I think the reason I continue to fail and not manage my time well is because I keep trying to do it myself instead of giving control to God. He is the only one who can help me because He is the only one who has ever been perfect. A great example is King David. He sinned against the Lord when he slept with Bathsheba and killed her husband. Because of this the God killed David and Bathseba's baby. Yet through all of this David praises the Lord. When he realizes he has sinned, he worships God. And David is still considered having a heart for God.

There are repercussions for the sins we commit, but the Lord loves us no matter what. We need to praise Him because He deserves it. Our mindset needs to be like David's after he sinned when he praised the Lord and fasted. He knew it was useless, but he wanted to give God credit. And even though this son died, he had another one with Bathsheba, one named Solomon. And we know about Solomon. He was loved by the Lord and he was given supernatural wisdom. 

So, good can come from our mistakes. Without this mistake, Solomon might not have been born. We don't know God's plan; we can only try to understand it when it happens. 

When I am in a time of trouble and failure, I will seek to praise the One who gives me life. Like Psalms 62 says, "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Trust in the Lord because he will lead you out of this failure. Persevere because He makes it worth it in the end.

Love,

Brian

My God

What does your god look like? Is he powerful beyond measure? Can he move mountains with his pinky? Can he create the heavens and the earth? Does he know every thought of every person? Does he know what's best for you and me? Is he merciful and loving? Does he love you when you don't deserve it? 

My God is. He is more powerful than anything on this earth. He made the heavens and the earth. He is merciful enough to love us when we don't deserve it. He loved us enough to send His son to die on the cross and forgive us our sins. My God is the healer of nations. He is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. He came to this earth as a humble servant and He will return as the majestic king He is. I don't know if you believe in my God, but I believe that He is the only God and He is the only thing that matters. What I do for this world makes no difference if not for Him. He has given me a life to live, and I mean to live it for Him. 

Yesterday at church we listened to a song called You Never Let Go. This is a song about my God. It is a song that says that He never lets go. He will never let go of us no matter how far we stray from His path. It's like a never-ending bear hug. If you've ever been in a bear hug with many people, you know that it's nearly impossible to get out. No matter how hard you push Him away, His arms just keep holding you. 

So continue to live for Him because He deserves it. He deserves our everything because He's given us everything we have.

Here are the lyrics to You Never Let Go. Reflect on what God has done in your life, and how you have tried to get away from his arms and had him pull you back to Him.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

Your perfect love is casting out fear

And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life

I won't turn back

I know you are near

 

And I will fear no evil

For my God is with me

And if my God is with me

Whom then shall I fear?

Whom then shall I fear?

 

(Chorus:)

Oh no, You never let go

Through the calm and through the storm

Oh no, You never let go

In every high and every low

Oh no, You never let go

Lord, You never let go of me

 

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on

A glorious light beyond all compare

And there will be an end to these troubles

But until that day comes

We'll live to know You here on the earth

 

(Chorus)

 

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on

And there will be an end to these troubles

But until that day comes

Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

Prayer

Prayer is such a powerful idea. It seems to us that us praying on behalf of someone else won't really do anything. Part of this stems from the fact that many prayers aren't answered the way we want them to be. So we think that God doesn't care about our prayers. But this is not true at all. The Bible tells us the exact opposite. It starts in Genesis 25. "Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant."  God answered Isaac's prayer. "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, 'I will build a house for you.' So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer." Again, God answers Samuel's prayer. David talks about it in Psalm 4:1. "Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer." 

And the best example of prayer in the Bible is the Lord's Prayer. "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

 "This, then, is how you should pray: " 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 
 your kingdom come, 
your will be done 
 on earth as it is in heaven. 
 Give us today our daily bread. 
 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one ' For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

This comes from Matthew 6. This is how we are supposed to pray. It shouldn't be to glorify us. It should be for the glory of God. We don't have to pray the best prayer. We just have to bring ourselves before Him, and humble ourselves so that we can truly listen to Him. It doesn't matter what you say as long as you say what is in your heart. That is what God wants to hear. He wants us to bring us to Him and ask Him to help because we can't do it on our own. 

So don't be afraid to bring your problems to Him. He is the one who can deal with them. He is the only one who can. We can make a difference with our prayers. God does listen to them, and although it might not be the answer we want to hear, it will be in accordance with His will and that is the only will that matters. 

What is a productive day? Is it when we get a lot accomplished, like schoolwork or at our job? Is it when we feel good about ourselves? Is there such a thing as a productive day? 

Well, I don't have a correct answer to these questions. And, to tell you the truth, I don't know if I ever will. But I do know one thing, no matter how productive I am or how unproductive I am, I always know that my God loves me. No matter what I do, God will always love me. He doesn't love me because He needs me. He doesn't love me because I'm perfect. He doesn't love me because I can give something to Him that He doesn't have. None of these are even close to being right. He loves me because He can. I don't know why, and I never will. I don't deserve His love, but He just keeps on giving it! It's amazing to know that. And it's amazing to think about that when we are having a day that feels unproductive or one that is the pits. Everyone has these. But if you can trust that God loves you, what else do you need? 

We don't need anything but the love of God, and it's unfailing! 

Productivity is good. But it's nothing compared to God's love! In fact, nothing even comes close to comparing. It's just awesome to think about. 

I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

God's love never fails! It is perfect! Think about that the next time you're having trouble, and remember that nothing is too difficult for Him to handle. There are no stupid questions in His book. He answers everything, and He loves you like nothing else could!

An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin. The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and to do good. Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong. Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. See how the evildoers lie fallen-thrown down, not able to rise. 

This is psalm 36. The last half where David starts talking about the Lord's love is awesome! It's amazing to think about it because it is unfailing! No matter what we do, He will NEVER cease to love us! Think about that, and then ask yourself how you are loving others. Are you loving them the same way God loves us, because that is what He calls us to do. He calls us to love unconditionally! 

Home

Well I arrived back at school yesterday to find a house full of people running every which way trying desperately to organize their belongings in their new rooms. In other words, I arrived back at home. If I went back to a year ago and tried to imagine somewhere else being home besides Centennial, CO I wouldn't have been able to. But now that I am here I consider Fairway home. It got me thinking about what home really is. Is it the place you sleep or the place you spend most of your time; the feeling you get when your around people you love? Well after living at Fairway for a semester and then going back to where I grew up I have realized that home really isn't about where you are. I could be almost anywhere and I could consider it home. Home isn't a place; it's a state of being. 

What I mean by that is that no matter where I go, I always have a soft place to rest my head. Even if I am in the middle of chaos, I always have somewhere I can go if things go south. This is because I have Jesus Christ in my heart. He is the one who inspires me. He is the one who lets me rest when I'm weary. No matter how hard of a time I am having, He will always be there with open arms just waiting for me to let go so that He can catch me. I think that is what defines a home. We can have all the money in the world, have fun all the time, have all the friends in the world, but without the love of God what is it worth? 

Being in college, I have two places that I define as home: my parents' house back in Colorado and Fairway Cooperative here at Purdue. These are home to me because I can see the love of Jesus Christ at work. I can see Him using my friends and family in extraordinary ways, and it's a great atmosphere. I love my friends here and I love my friends back in Colorado. But they don't compare to the friend I have in Jesus!

So next time you are thinking about where you rest your head and whether you should move or switch colleges or whatever is turning your world around, think about this: It doesn't matter where you are; it doesn't matter what you're doing; the only thing that matters is whether you can see God through it all and whether you can see Him nodding his head in approval. You will be happy if you have the love of Jesus in your heart!

Hope you all have a great semester of school!

New Year

So it is officially 2010! That sounds so crazy. It's been a decade since the millennium! This year has been full of ups and downs. There have been some great moments: going to college, playing varsity baseball, pledgeship, going to K-CO, going to Europe, etc... and there have been some not so great times: deaths at Arapahoe, bad economy, time struggles, and some others. But as I look at this past year, it is so evident that God has been behind everything. He has blessed us and helped us through these challenging times. I know that I would be nowhere without Him. He gives me the strength to persevere and the ability to love and live. 

With this in mind, I will strive to live another year of service. I will fail every day with that, but I know that God sent His son Jesus Christ to die for us and that means that even though I do fail, He forgives me. He has taken all our sins on himself. So I will persevere and try to serve Him to the best of my ability. This next year there will be many changes in my life. I will continue to live at Fairway, but I will be an active this semester. This means that I can have time to build relationships with the other young men in the house. I will be taking more classes related to civil engineering, so that will be fun. After this semester, I will work at Camp Kivu for six weeks being a counselor. This will be hard, but it will be fun and I know God has called me to be a counselor for those young men. Then new pledges will be arriving next year. This will be a great experience as well.

These are the basics of what I think will happen. But I don't really know for sure what will happen because God could do many things with me. I don't know exactly what will happen, but I know that God has me in His loving hands and that He cares and loves me. He will guide my steps and He will lead me where I need to go. So as I go into this year, I want to share a few prayer requests for me if you would. I know that this past semester I didn't do a very good job with time management, and this semester I really need to work on that. So this is one thing that I need prayer for. The second thing is getting involved at either my church or another group like young life. I don't know exactly what God wants me to do there, but I think He wants me to get involved in the community other than Fairway. I also need prayer as I develop relationships with the other guys at Fairway and around at other houses. 

These are a few of my goals and things that I need prayer for. Feel free to share yours and i will be praying for you with those. 

Happy New Year! May you be blessed and may the Lord lead you in all you do.