I am learning much. Growing, as I have come to
find, does not complete. It is never perfected. This week I have really felt the side effects of learning
and growth. Some include: great frustration, brinks of defeat, hope, and
ultimate triumphs. Growth is like playing multiple video games with infinite
levels or building a road with many paths. I have been persevering through a
ridiculous job hunt. My tan is even leveling up. I have been battling my pride
and learning more about humility. My sense of direction is improving for once
in my life (hard to believe I know). I am learning about who I am in Christ. I
can now run on ice (thanks to an epic broomball extravaganza)! I am building
some sweet friendships with some sweet peeps.
-Sarah
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen:
not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
-C.S. Lewis
CODY:
Well this past week has been a challenging week, but in a
good way. I have loved the sermons on Sunday mornings from a young pastor who
really understands that Jesus + Nothing = Everything. He has a great gift in
being able to show how we are able to do so much with Christ alone.
"Whoever gets the Son gets the Father". We often fins ourselves
chasing after dead stuff, separating us from a true relationship with Jesus.
Since when is Jesus not enough? In our weekly meetings, we have learned about God's
forgiveness of our sins, and what it means to understand fully what this means.
Every time we get on our knees and ask God for forgiveness, we fail to
understand that we have already been forgiven for our sins past, present, and
future. Instead, we should confess our sins and ask Jesus to wash our feet,
to purify us, and to grow us in our walk
with Him. I have also been challenged in understanding the fullness of
salvation, justification, glorification, and sanctification. These are big
words that we read in the bible but may not fully understand. I think they are
very important in understanding what God has done, is doing, and will do in His
people. Another thing I have thoroughly enjoyed is our dinner with Jesus on
Wednesday nights :) This is a time where we get out dinner to go at the church
and take it wherever we chose and eat and just spend time with Jesus reflecting
on the things He has been putting on our hearts. It truly is some of the most
peaceful times. We also learned about redeeming the time God has given us, and
using it as a resource that He has blessed us with. Sunday we had a sort of all
churches day in which all of the different congregations that use the church
came together to worship God as one body. It was very powerful and was followed
but a great barbecue. Finally, we had our mens and womens conferences that
really opened my eyes to understanding how sin affects us and how we are to
respond to it and what the Bible says about it. We were challenged to work
together as brothers to accomplish tasks and encourage each other through them.
I feel the conference was one of the best experiences I have had on project so
far.
MARIO:
Howdy! So this week has a new focus. This week’s focus is on reaching those with a lower socio-economic status. We heard the message yesterday and immediately went to engage with those who are less fortunate afterward on the promenade of Santa Monica. While out, we spotted and began to talk with this guy who was confined to a wheel chair. He had a dog with him. We have seen him around before, but he refused to talk to us last time we tried to connect with him about spiritual things. The person I went sharing with, Kara, came up with the brilliant idea of buying this fellow some food for his dog. We went to a pet store to buy it, and the most amazing thing happened. The owner of the pet store and a couple that just so happened to be in the store decided to generously donate two bags of dog food after over-hearing Kara and I talk about our cause (God’s timing was, and is, great!). When we got back to the guy in the wheel chair, we handed him the dog food. He received it with gratitude. I didn’t want to push spiritual things on him right away. Instead we just asked him questions about his dog. We learned that his name was Joel, and his dog’s name was Carboni. We didn't get deep with him, because he cut the conversation short after we started asking him questions about his family and spiritual life. He didn’t say much, but we did learn way more about him than we knew before. We learned that he went to the church to pray often, but didn’t know the names of any of the churches that he went to because he couldn’t read. While talking to him, I felt his pain and emotional guard. After he scurried away in his wheel chair, I got the feeling that another reason he didn’t know the names of the churches that went to was because he had little interaction with the people he ran into while there. My heart goes out Joel. If you remember, say a prayer for him.
….
After departing with Joel, we continued to walk and ended up running into another gentleman who was holding a sign that read “Need help pay for surgery. I have rheumatoid arthritis. –God bless.” His name was John, and he was originally from Hong Kong. Our initial assumption was that he was homeless. But as we talked with him, we learned that he wasn’t homeless. Actually he was just trying to raise money for his surgery. He had about 20 thousand raised, and 80 thousand more left. We received quite the surprise when we asked him about his spiritual life. He was a follower of Jesus, and he had some words of wisdom to share with us. He knew that Jesus was the way and the truth. He talked about his relationship with God. He knew about the world’s brokenness and God’s patience toward His creation. He spoke to us about having patience with the Lord’s provision. I have heard these things before from many others, but they somehow carried more meaning this time. This guy was in a far worse situation than me. His hands were deformed, so he couldn’t work. And here he was—carrying a sign with an earnest cry for help from the people passing by. John’s joy was apparent in our conversation. He
was content with waiting for the Lord to provide for His surgery.
CODY:
Well this past week has been a challenging week, but in a
good way. I have loved the sermons on Sunday mornings from a young pastor who
really understands that Jesus + Nothing = Everything. He has a great gift in
being able to show how we are able to do so much with Christ alone.
"Whoever gets the Son gets the Father". We often fins ourselves
chasing after dead stuff, separating us from a true relationship with Jesus.
Since when is Jesus not enough? In our weekly meetings, we have learned about God's
forgiveness of our sins, and what it means to understand fully what this means.
Every time we get on our knees and ask God for forgiveness, we fail to
understand that we have already been forgiven for our sins past, present, and
future. Instead, we should confess our sins and ask Jesus to wash our feet,
to purify us, and to grow us in our walk
with Him. I have also been challenged in understanding the fullness of
salvation, justification, glorification, and sanctification. These are big
words that we read in the bible but may not fully understand. I think they are
very important in understanding what God has done, is doing, and will do in His
people. Another thing I have thoroughly enjoyed is our dinner with Jesus on
Wednesday nights :) This is a time where we get out dinner to go at the church
and take it wherever we chose and eat and just spend time with Jesus reflecting
on the things He has been putting on our hearts. It truly is some of the most
peaceful times. We also learned about redeeming the time God has given us, and
using it as a resource that He has blessed us with. Sunday we had a sort of all
churches day in which all of the different congregations that use the church
came together to worship God as one body. It was very powerful and was followed
but a great barbecue. Finally, we had our mens and womens conferences that
really opened my eyes to understanding how sin affects us and how we are to
respond to it and what the Bible says about it. We were challenged to work
together as brothers to accomplish tasks and encourage each other through them.
I feel the conference was one of the best experiences I have had on project so
far.
So I know that
all of this came pretty quick but God is really using all that we do together
and growing each and every one of us. I wish I could go into more detail on all
of these things, and hopefully I can, you just gotta ask :) Evangelism has been
a huge turning point as well, we have had several people that we have talked to
on the 3rd St Promenade and the beach accept Jesus as a project! I got a sweet
vintage bike to ride here donated from the church. It had a flat tire but shes
got new wheels now and rides like a
champ! That's all for now! Until next time.......
-CodyMARIO:
….
After departing with Joel, we continued to walk and ended up running into another gentleman who was holding a sign that read “Need help pay for surgery. I have rheumatoid arthritis. –God bless.” His name was John, and he was originally from Hong Kong. Our initial assumption was that he was homeless. But as we talked with him, we learned that he wasn’t homeless. Actually he was just trying to raise money for his surgery. He had about 20 thousand raised, and 80 thousand more left. We received quite the surprise when we asked him about his spiritual life. He was a follower of Jesus, and he had some words of wisdom to share with us. He knew that Jesus was the way and the truth. He talked about his relationship with God. He knew about the world’s brokenness and God’s patience toward His creation. He spoke to us about having patience with the Lord’s provision. I have heard these things before from many others, but they somehow carried more meaning this time. This guy was in a far worse situation than me. His hands were deformed, so he couldn’t work. And here he was—carrying a sign with an earnest cry for help from the people passing by. John’s joy was apparent in our conversation. He
was content with waiting for the Lord to provide for His surgery.
Both of these guys held up mirrors to me. They both showed me things about my own walk God that I need to work on. This was a reminder that we all need way more grace than we think. This week, I am going to guard my joy, and push forward with perseverance. May the Lord be with me, and may the Lord
be with you.
-Mario
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