Week 4: A Big Week

Farewell to staff banquet

SARAH: My last sharing experience was radically mind-blowing. God shattered all my expectations and stereotypes as I met the most loving, kind, humble, and competent homeless man. Although his life has been filled with unprecedented strife and challenges, he is one of the most wise and content human I have ever known. He was a previous marine, had attended college, held well paying positions, and previously lived in a furnished apartment with a furry cat. He has lived everywhere from New York, Texas, all the way to Florida. But with a passing glance you would notice a man leaned against a palm tree with an array of assorted tattoos, a low hanging beanie that partly covered his eyes, cameo-cargo pants, and few belongings in a neatly arranged backpack (habits of a marine). Even though society labels this man as "homeless" and "hopeless" or even "worthless," I find that he has the richest heart. Jay has experienced both the highs and lows of life. He said composedly, "what I do not understand is the way people tick…why people are so eager to wake-up in the morning to rush into 

The hollywood sign! It was quite a hike!

an often frustrating and chaotic workplace to earn fleeting wealth…there is never enough money to satisfy anyway." Jay reminded me of a Walden in the city instead of the wilderness. He is one of the few people who "gets it" while the rest of society is consumed with carrying about the "correct" progression of life. Contrary to the "correct" progression of life in which one strives to attain a well-paying career in order to acquire a supposed number of possessions that brings happiness, find the perfect spouse and have 2.2 perfect children, and attempt to leave some sort of meaningfully legacy (whatever that means), Jay recognizes this progression is frustrating because fewer than 3% of world even complete. Moreover, upon completion people are still distraught and unsatisfied. Enough is never enough. This begs the question, is this truly the "correct" progression of life? What about life after death, is it just about a legacy? That is if we even leave one that means anything to anyone centuries later. What will our lives mean then? As we carry about this progression of life, does it bother us that people are dying, being enslaved and trafficked in the world just a few longitudes and latitudes away from us? Or are we too consumed in reaching the checkpoints of this progression to think about…to put it quite plainly…other people? And equally important, what is truly the purpose that we are even born into the world? Because if no one remembers us years later, the only evidence we even lived is the trash we produced and our grave site. I understand some people are perfectly content with this fact. In fact, I was pretty content pursuing this progression. But to maintain that mentality and be content with that life, I could not think beyond myself. The second we think beyond ourselves, we question this progression.

I love these two!

 I dared to ask, "is my life about my sake or the sake of others?" Jay reminded me that my life is about the sake of others. It is dissatisfying  to be personally rescued while sitting in a warm lifeboat watching others struggle or drown. That's Jay. He's the one willing to risk his life, throwing out everything he has inside his boat to save others. In the eyes of God, to be first is last, and to be last is to be first. Jay will be first. 

-Sarah

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."

 - 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3

Mario and his peepsters

MARIO: This week has been filled with all kinds of opportunities to be more like Jesus. For starters, this last Thursday, our Staff left the project--leaving us, the students, in charge of the whole thing. The good thing is, they left with a ceremony. They assembled us all in one room, gave us each one candle, and called us up individually to endow us each with specific leadership responsibilities. It was great! It was also overwhelming though. That very moment, I knew I needed the strength of Jesus in order to step up and take the responsibility that I was being given. Please pray that I would know these words of scripture to be true: "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19) Not only was I given a specific job title, but I was also charged with making sure I lead my brothers and sisters in grace and truth.
I remember asking God to lead me in the way everlasting. I have a feeling he heard my prayers, but I just don't know how He is going to carry out His works.
Here is an encouraging story: Me and another student were out sharing our faith in Christ, when we ran into this gentleman by the name of Dwight. Dwight agreed to talk with us, but we had no idea of how much time he had to spare. Apparently, he was waiting for someone when we found him. Dwight was a student at Santa Monica College. 

Everyone =]

He was very busy with life. Not only was he a student, but he was also in the process of moving into a new place, and he worked at Bank of America for an untold amount of hours per week. Dwight had told us that he was engaged a year ago and that his engagement ended sadly. I don't remember asking how his engagement ended. I didn't want to pry too much. So instead, I asked about his spiritual life. Apparently he had grown up catholic, and yet still felt unfulfilled.
Around this point in our conversation with Dwight, his friend texted him and told him that he was going to be able to meet up. (God's timing= good). We continued to talk.He told us that he didn't want to convert to Christianity because he had grown up Catholic. But he also confessed that there were some aspect s of Christianity that were appealing to him. He said that he liked the way everyone was so accepting and more joyful. He said he had Christian friends. I explained to him that God loved him so much and that God wanted His people to come to Him with all of their burdens. I tried to say it as passionately as I could, without coming off as creepy. I don't quite know if I got though to Dwight, but my prayer is that he will come to know He, who paid it all, more. if you remember, say a prayer for Him. 

Until next time,
MG

CODY: As you can tell by my late week 4 posting, I have been very busy. A lot has happened over the course of last week. The theme was ‘Engaging Your World’. In that, we looked at what it means to reach the world with gospel and what the Bible says about reaching out to the world. I really enjoyed learning in our action group what it means to become ‘all things for all people’. It seemed almost impossible to be able to do that, yet God promises that He will be with us as we make disciples of all nations. We went out sharing with this in mind and I had some great conversations with some very cool people. It is so great to be able to go out into our world and take time to listen to others story and share a story of hope for the lost, hurt, wandering, broken, or ashamed. I really enjoy sharing the greatest love story ever written! Following the theme of the week we  also had an international which turned out to be a very convicting night and something that I would recommend to you all if you have the chance to attend an international dinner! That’s all I can say about that J

            On Thursday, we had our final staff banquet, as they left that night and handed over the project to the students. Each student was challenged with a specific position to hold for the remaining 4 weeks. I was blessed with being asked to be a part of the lead team as a ministry team leader. Although I wasn’t quite sure what all the position entailed, I have grown to love it even though it has added a lot to my busy schedule. I am constantly reminded that God has me in this position for a reason and will help me to grow through it and help guide the project.

            In church Sunday we continued through the ‘Summer of Psalms’ theme as we looked at Psalm 125:1-5. We learned about the things that made us feel secure, and what it meant to trust God and what trust meant in general. I enjoyed this Psalm because it is a Psalm of belief, trust, protection, help, peace, and stability. The question then was: do you trust Christ with everything you have? Is it a formal (what you say) trust or an informal (how you live) trust? As I grow closer to God and strive to reflect Jesus more each day, I am confident that my trust is growing and that God is able to use me more! ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus!

            As I wrap up I just want to leave you all with a powerful quote that was very convicting to me as I heard it and really thought about how I want to live my life:

"Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed Master, will be an all-absorbing passion to him. It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others. He will be like the brave fireman, who cares not for the scorch or the heat, so that he may rescue the poor creature on whom true humanity has set its heart. If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for." - Charles Spurgeon

Please keep me and the SMSP 2012 team in your prayers! 

By His Grace, 

Cody