Matthew 8: the first steps

How do we truly come to Christ? The televangelists and speakers make it sound so easy, but its harder then you think.

"And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” -  Matthew 8:2
The first thing that we must realise is we are not in control. God is not a genie or a magical fairy who we can command and He grants all our wishes. In Matthew 8:2 Jesus comes to a city where a He is approached by a leper. Note how the leaper says "If you will" not "Heal me!" or "Help me" but rather he asks Jesus if He wills it, meaning if Jesus wants to, not has to, heal him. This is how we should approach God with an attitude of obedience and sacrifice. When we come to God in this way we come bowing in the glory of the Lord, we come as one to be commanded, not one who makes commands.

"But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed." -Matthew 8:8
Sin is something with which all humans are plagued with, we will never be rid of it, on our own. The second step to coming to Christ is realising we are sinners and will never change with in human control. In chapter 8 of the gospel of Matthew we read of a centurion, or a Roman soldier, who comes to Christ so his servant can be healed. When Christ agrees the Roman then proceeds to tell him not to come to his house, but rather say the word and it would be done. Why? He says "I am not worthy for you to come under my roof." This is such an amazing part in scripture because this is a Roman soldier, a gentile, a non-Jew, in our eyes he would be an atheist, coming to Christ and fully believing in Him. By the Roman saying this we also see that he comes to realise his sinful ways. So many people in our world do not realise their sin, some don't even know what sin is. We have been taught by our society that being "a good person" is good enough, but it isn't! If your a good person but do not have Christ in your life then being good means nothing. And so like the Centurion we must come to Christ admitting our sin and telling Christ we are not worthy.

"Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²² And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” - Matthew 8:21-22
When excepting Christ and choosing a life of following Him we are called, as Jesus called the disciple in this verse, to "follow Him." Know this verse at first glance seems very strange and seems like Jesus has no respect for the dead, however this is how I see it, it may not be right and you can correct me if I am wrong. But Jesus says "Leave the dead to bury their own dead" now that is a strange thing to say, so looking at it in a spiritual way rather then a physical way it turns a new light. Those who do not follow or know Christ are spiritually dead, and so looking at it this way Jesus is saying "Leave your spiritually dead life behind and let it bury itself." He says "Follow me" not "Once you have everything set in place and in it's place come and follow me," but rather "Follow me and give over to me your imperfections, faults, worries." 

So how do we come to Christ? well we see in Matthew chapter 8 that in verse 1 we must come to Him willing to surrender to Him and let Him do what He wants, when He wants, and if He wants. We see that we need to admit we are sinners and are not worthy (vs.8), and vs. 21-22 shows us that we need to leave our sinful, selfish life behind. Where do we go next from there? Well that is between you and God! 

Little Rocks and Jungle Gyms

"and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:3

My friend was at the park the other day with her 6 year old cousin and her cousin's friend. They began to pick up rocks they thought were pretty, the 6 year old girl then took a handful of rocks and stuck them in her pocket. When asked "why did you pick up all the rocks?" She replied by saying, "there all so pretty."
This story is a very cute one, but can also be very applicable to our spiritual walk with God. Jesus loved children, and in retrospect we are all children to Him. In Matthew 18:3 He said that "unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of God." This is not a new thing, I have probably heard this verse millions of times since I was little. But have we actually stopped and thought about it, before moving on with our day?
You see a child is someone who can not fend for themselves, who is completely reliant on some kind of "parent" figure in their lives to provide, shelter, food, warmth, clothing, etc... And so much like our relationship with Christ, we can not live with out complete reliance on Him at all times.
As I look back on my childhood I ask myself one question, "what happened?" As we grow up and start to become more of a follower of the world then an individual I can not help but think we have over complicated everything. You see as a child everything was either really simple or a mystery and wonder to us, we could spend hours playing outside with one stick and be completely satisfied. I remember that even going down the stairs could be an adventure to me, the jungle gym transformed from being a spaceship on Monday to a fire breathing dragon on Tuesday. The stick in my hand could be a laser gun at one moment then turn into a great battle sword the next. But now the jungle gym is just some wood nailed together with plastic, that stick is a stick nothing more. We have flown away from neverland never to return, and so we grow up. Our heads are filled with philosophies and math formula's, no longer can we be anybody we wont to be because we must forget imagination and replace it with logic and science.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that life should be all fun and games, but I am also not saying we should completely leave our imagination behind and abandon it for logic. There needs to be an equilibrium, we still need to see the wonder in this world, and the wonder and mystery in God. Not everything can fit into a dictionary definition and a petree dish.
And so I leave you with this,
Lord I pray for all of us, I pray that you would bring the wonder back to our hearts, that the world would be a new mystery to discover each day. I pray that we would become that child, who takes hand fulls of rocks, seeing them all as "pretty" and stuffing them into our pockets.

The Wizard of Oz and Cancer

Make War

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." -1 Corinthians 10:13 

We never forget, it continues to pester our every waking moment, every thought always seems to land upon that one thing... we keep telling ourselves "I'll never be free of it, so what's the point?" It begins to brand us, inked all over us like tattoos on our body, one after another, until our whole body is marked and scared by our sin. 

But can we actually escape the scaring? The painful memories of failure and mistake in our life? I have asked myself this question so many times, and how do He answer? with 1 Corinthians 10:13, He responds by saying, "I always give a way out." The first statement in this verse is that no temptation is to strong for us, but is it really, for us individually it will always come out as the victor, but look at the second par. "God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability." What is this statement saying exactly? That we can not handle our sin and temptation with out Gods strength, now don't get me wrong here, God is not a magical genie you can rub out of a lamp when its hard. Relying on God's strength is far more then that, it's being able to admit you can't do it on your own, it's leaving all you know behind and giving him the x-box 360 controller of your life. And I'm not saying it will be easy and happy fluffy clouds and flowers all the time, faith in God is not a feeling, if you believe in God because it will make you feel good I'm sorry but you are looking in the wrong place. This place is one of constant war with our world and ourselves. 

Now I'm not saying lets start shooting up places because we are Christians, far from it, I am talking about spiritual war. This kind of war has been one that had gone on since Eve took the apple, since the first sin was committed into existence, this war is one where our weapons are folded hands, a book and other believers. Those three things are our strongest weapons against probably the worst ever enemy we have ever known, an enemy that knows us to the core, an enemy that will fight against you the rest of your earthly life. That enemy well it's you... you, your sin, your temptations, your worldly, physical, mental desires. 

So you are probably asking yourself, "how can I escape, well me?" That's the easy part, the hard part is what comes next.

When Mary discovered that the tomb of Christ was empty and told the other disciples, and Peter and John ran to the tomb, it was easy to run there, but the hardest part was to go in, see the left behind rapping and believe that Jesus was risen.  

In conclusion we can never win these battles, we will never be able to overcome temptation, but there is one who has, there is one who will, and there is one who can lift you up and support you. His name is Jesus, letting Him in is easy, it is what lies ahead that will be hard. But I will leave you with this; 

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." - James 1:2-4 

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." - Romans 8:18 

The World of the Free, maybe...

"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." - Matthew 6:24
This morning I was praying, dwelling on the thought that the world feeds us the lie that as Christians we are only slaves to a cruel God and master, then it hit me, isn't it the other way around? Your probably think "That's nothing new..." But look at it this way;
A slave is commanded by a master who tells them what to do and when to do it. Many believe this reflects upon Christianity and God, however it is the opposite. Think about ever non-Christian you know (if you are not a Christian then think about yourself) how have you spoken all these years? I bet in your day to day chats with people you swear, well in reality you have just joined the rest of the world in becoming a slave to it.
Our world almost pushes us to do certain things like swearing, drinking, casual sex, and the such. Why? Because it wants to have control over you! If you stop doing these things and follow a life set out for Christ, then no wonder we look down upon Christianity, because by doing so you have taken your "freedom" in the world and given it to one who truly sets you free.
By knowing this everything then starts to make a lot more sense! We start to realise why as Christians we get such a bad rap, but every other faith never gets as bad of a rap as we do. Why? Because the world knows that through Christ we are released from the bonds of this slavery.
So thus Christianity is not a burden of constant rules, but rather it is freedom. Freedom from the ever growing whole of emptiness

 we all have in our hearts, freedom from the feeling of being alone, forgotten, and lost, freedom to choose who we want to be and who we are called to be. And so I will conclude with this, what does it mean to be a slave to sin and a slave to righteousness?

Missions update

Hey,
So missions update :) the Missions Committee at my church just gave me $1500.00 for my trip! Which is awesome!!! We also got a new member from Nova Scotia :) 
That's about all that is new, thank-you for your prayers

Knowing

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb." -Psalm 139:13
This verse has been stuck in my head for about a month now, along with other verses on the topic of God knowing us. If you actually take time to read and think about this verse its mind blowing!
Luke 12:7 says that God knows each indavidual hair on your head, not that He knows the number roughly, but that He knows exactly how many. Both Matthew 6:26 and Matthew 6:30 say that God cares for the birds and the flowers, so how much more do you think He cares for you?
Yesterday I posted my thoughts on not fearing, this topic kind of co-insides with that thought. If you have no idea what I am talking about please put this on hold and look at yesterdays post. You see God says , "Do not fear" because He knows us, He, as it says in Psalms 139:13, "knit us in our mothers womb" Romans 8:31 says " What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
So putting that altogether we can see that; God created us, so He knows us better then we know ourselves, He knows our personalities, eye colour, hair colour, voice, how we think, etc. Because of this He cares for us deeply, He cares for all of His creation, the birds in the sky, to the smallest blade of grass on the ground, so how much more do you think He cares for you? So if God created us, and cares for us, then that means if He is with us then we have nothing to fear, for He is the creator and Father of all things!
Now we must ask ourselves "How am I going to respect and be thankful for it?"

365

"fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." -Isaiah 41:10
365, is a big number, it is also how many times the words "Do not fear" appear in God's word. When some one posted this on facebook I was drawn aback. That means there is a "Do not fear" for every single day, of every single year. Therefore, every single day of your life God is saying "Do not fear!" I found that kind of cool.

New Clothes

"We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." -Isaiah 64:6

When my father was younger he was offered a job at a funeral home, two positions were available, one was to drive the car for the coffins but did not offer steady hours and pay. The other was called "Pick up" and offered constant hours and a steady pay, so my father's choice the one with the steady hours and pay. On his first day he went to a house of a woman who had been dead for four days... the minute he walked in a pungent smell of decaying body filled his nostrils. That day he decided he did not want to work pick up. 

although this story is kind of a funny one, it is also one that can be taken in a spiritual context as well, Isaiah writes that we are unclean and are clothed in "polluted garments." My father's story gives this verse even more life, you see we are like dead decaying bodies on this Earth. We smell of sin, live in the filth of sin, and spiritually dawn the cloths of death, we in God's eyes are "the walking dead." Now we arn't zombies, so don't go eating people's brains. What I mean is that we are spiritually dead. Our world has said this is wrong though, we have excepted the lie that "If it makes you feel good, then it is good." The lie that convinces us that "You're not that bad, your a pretty good person." Unfortunately we are not good people, the Bible says that we are sinful by nature... 

But listen, we might be dirty, unclean, and spiritual Zombies but there is more my friend, there is something world has not told you. These chains that hold us down, well you can be free from them, the baggage that forces you to fall and keeps you in the dust can be lifted, those cloths which are like rags and smell with spiritual impurity, well they can be replaced, the Zombie can come to the light and leave their brain hungering nature behind. The world has fed us the lie that we can never be free, because there is nothing to be free of, that this is it, that we need to live with a YOLO attitude, do what you can when you can and how you can if it makes you feel good, but there is more then this... there is more, and His name is Jesus. 

Now your probably saying "Oh great, this is when he gets all preachy and 'Holy then thou' on us" well no. My friends I am as guilty as you, I am no better then you, and so let Him speak to you, not me. 

"12Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

15But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

18Therefore, as one trespass^e led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness^fleads to justification and life for all men. 19For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 5:12-18 

It speaks for itself, but its up to you, I am not forcing this on to you, I can not convince you to follow Christ, that is all up to you. Its up to you to choose the keys to the real sports car, or continue to pl;ay with your hot wheels in the dirt.  

So one question remains, do you choose?

The Noise, Noise, Noise

"It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD." -Lamentations 3:26 

Quiet, what does this word mean in today's society? Does it even exist any more? Not really, everywhere you go there is something making noise, our culture has berried itself in noise. Silence or quietness has been made something to run from, something awkward. As Christians however we are called to surround ourselves in it, which brings us to the second part of this post; Patience, or waiting. Our generation has been labelled with the name of "The Me Generation," meaning we don't know how to wait any more. It's all about me, thus everything I want needs to be NOW. But again as Christians we are called to wait. 
This morning I read Lamentations 3:26 (the verse above) in my devotions, and these words spoke to me. We don't stop any more and see the beauty in silence, we don't have the patience any more to wait, yet God says "wait quietly." This command is one that is ignored or forgotten in our society and in our Western faith. We no longer know how to "wait quietly," we want to do it all know and make as much noise doing it. 
"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye." - Matthew 7:5 

Now you may be asking, "Why did you put that verse in?" Well there is a reason my friend, you see we can not tell people to read there Bible and begin a relationship with the Lord if we do not have one fully ourselves. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you can not tell others about Christ until you have reached a certain level of "Perfection" in your faith, but rather that you understand what a relationship with Christ is. 

You see many see Christianity as simply going to church, believe in an all knowing God, not swearing and praying every once in awhile, but it is far more then that. Christianity is a relationship with a loving friend and father, and in a relationship there needs to be a constant communication between the two partners. This is where the "Wait quietly" part comes in, we can not hear God's voice if we do not stop and wait for it, and we can not hear it even still if we are constantly surrounding ourselves with noise. This includes "mind noise" as well, or thoughts, and thinking off track. 

So you see we can not fully understand, or know what God wants of us if we do not stop, wait, quiet our selves, and listen. This is essential in a relationship with a loving God who wants to be the foundation of you life. 

This Little Light of Mine

"No one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that may be made manifest nor is anything secret that will not be made known and come to the light" - Luke 8:16-17
We have all heard the sunday school song sung so many times, "this little light of mine, Im gunna let it shine, this little light of mine Im gunna let it shine, hide it under a bushel,NO! Im gunna let it shine, let it shine let it shine, let is shine" We all sung those words when we were little, but have we ever actually understood them? Or like most of us, was it just another song that lead to the questions with the answers of "Jesus, the Bible and God?"
This morning my devos were on Luke 8:18, while reading it my eyes drifted from the verse to those above 16 and 17, while reading, that sunday school song came back to me. I realized that I had never explored the true meaning of that song, I had never thought "What really is 'this little light of mine, and why am I not going to blow it out?" And so while reading those verses I asked myself that.
You see to us that song was nothing more then just a song, words put together with a clever catchy tune. But the meaning of that song extends so much further then just the catchy tune, those words mean far more then what we thought they ment.
In John 14:6 Jesus says "I am the way the truth and the LIGHT" wait a second, Jesus is the light? And we had a "little light?" Does that mean we all have a little Jesus? Sorry to dissapoint you but when you become a Christian you dont get a little Jesus to carry around. The answer lies in Matthew 5:16 which talks about us "Shining as a light" to others so that they may see our example of Christ and bring glory to Him.
So if the "Light" is Jesus, qnd we all have a "Little light" that must mean we "shine" like the example of Christ's "Light" to those around us.
In conclusion I will leave you with this;
"Do all things without grumbeling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you SHINE LIKE STARS IN THE UNIVERSE" - Philippians 2:14-15

Unaware and Unprepared

Hey guys, this was an article I came across today, very good. read it and comment below what you think, I would like to hear your point of view, do you agree? disagree? agree with some but not with all? http://www.churchleaders.com/children/childrens-ministry-articles/166129-marc-solas-10-surprising-reasons-our-kids-leave-church.html?p=4

Brazil Update

So this week I got three packages to read from CBM (Canadian Baptist Ministries) concerning my STM (Short Term Mission) to Brazil. I learned a little more about what I will be doing, so I thought I would tell you guys, because that's what this Blog was originally created for!
I will be going and helping with a missions program called "Free Flight Missions" they have a youth centre in the city of Aguas Lindas, Brazil. This youth centre helps bring children, youth, and young adults off the streets and teaches them things that vary from, computer skills to music, to language, to sports, to art. I will be going and helping with these workshops and helping bring the message of Christ to the people there.
As the summer approaches and my time to leave for this trip in August comes that much closer every day my excitement builds, please pray for me and my team as we prepare and later embark on this trip to not only share, and teach but to learn and draw closer to God.  

Red-flags or Wooden crosses?

Hey Guys/girls, one of my favourite musical and hip-hop artists out there is Lecrae, if you don't know who the heck I am talking about stop right now and go look him up on youtube, itunes, soundcloud or any other music browser. Just this passed year Lecrae hit big with his newest album "Gravity" which came out in the fall/winter of 2012, he also won a Grammy in 2012 for best Gospel artist. With this new spot light on him many critics in both Christian and Secular circles are saying that Lecrae has left the "Jesus Muzik" style behind and is now only in it for the money, Lecrae disagrees with many of his fans. This article was just published and is very interesting, take a look and please comment below on what you think.

http://wadeoradio.com/lecrae-tells-all-why-the-face-of-christian-hip-hop-switched-his-style-up/

hey, check out my brothers blog,
http://wesleyhuff.blogspot.ca/

Arguments and Apologies

This article was posted by someone on my facebook news feed, a very worth while read that brings up a huge point in our Faith and walk with Christ;

http://www.esquire.com/features/best-and-brightest-2009/shane-claiborne-1209?src=soc_fcbks

If you have not read the article please do so before reading any further on this post.
His point is a very strong one, and the issue he is bringing to light is one of two that have effect the Church of Christ, in a previous post I talked about how the Church is become what I like to call a "Jelly Donut filled Christianity" if you have no idea what I am talking about please stop reading now and go to my post entitled "Beyond our norm and calling." If you have read this post already then you know what I am talking about, the other issue is what Shane just talked about, which I like to call "The Brimstone effect" this is simply the complete opposite of the "Jelly Donut" way of living in faith. It condemns people with judgement and no respect, as Christians, or rather Christ-ones, we are called to admit that yes Hell exists, and yes God is love, but He is also just. But Shane has already addressed this, and so I will not continue to bore you.
So I shall end it with saying that you are in my prayers.
God bless,
Sincerely,
Nathan

Hey guys (and girls), 
sorry about the last post, its all wonky for some reason, hopefully it wont happen again :/ 

Beyond our norm and calling

2 Timothy 4:1-5 says: 
"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry." 

We read this in my evening family devos, it popped out because it basically summaries our calling. Look at the starting "I charge you in the presence of God and Of Christ" that alone says "Sit down, shut your mouth and open your ears, I'm talking to you in the name of He who created." 
It then proceeds to tell you what He (as in God) calls us to do "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching." Note when it says "be in ready in season and our of season" in 2 Peter 3:15 it says that we need to be ready to proclaim the gospel always, but do it gently and respectfully, which co-insides with this verse in 2 Timothy. Why because both in different ways say "be ready always no matter what." Basically walk the walk, not just talk the talk, which means when your not doing so great, when your tired, when your day is going to junk, Job who basically went through as much torment as a human can go through with out dying said "The Lord takes away, and gives, but I will still praise Him" Job is a living statement to these two verses in 2 Peter and 2 Timothy. He set an example of one who follows God no matter what. 
Unfortunately this is fading in our generation, our generation has become one who is filled with a "jelly donut gospel," one that is surgery, doey and sweet, to be accepting of all people. This leads into the next part of the verse; 
 "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." 
This "Lovey Dovey" movement in the Church of Christ is not old, this verse was written hundreds of years ago, and the author was talking about issues in the early church then... so as Humans we have struggled with the fact that, yes God is a God of wrath, and judgement, however through that He is wrathful towards those who oppress His people, and is judges those who fall from the path and ignore His teachings. So we need to ask ourselves "What are we doing wrong? why has this problem of "Lukewarmness" been a constant in our church since the beginning of time?" The answer is simple; Humanity... you see if we hold on to this worldly thing called "Humanity" then we will always fail in His eyes, however if we embrace the fact that we can never make our lives perfect, that we will always fail no matter what... with out His guidance and His light. Instead of running and looking at the cross, we need to do as Peter and John did and run to the empty tomb to see that He has risen and is Lord.
The last part of the verse addresses our main calling;
 "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry." 
Christ calls us to always be "sober-minded" think about that, SOBER-MINDED, aka with a clear mind set. This is a true testament to those who agree with drinking as a Christian, it also falls into the fact that God always need to be on our mind. We are called to fill our thoughts with Holy and Righteous things, so be Sober-Minded. "Endure suffering" many who have become members of the "Church of the Lukewarm" do not like these kind of statements, I have heard many say "But if God is love then His people shouldn't suffer!" Unfortunately this argument is invalid do to the fact that as a Christian we are supposed to stand out and not be a part of this world, thus this world will try its hardest to not let us proclaim the gospel of Christ. Then the last part;  "Do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry" this is basically saying as Christ did "Go to all and share my Gospel" 
So in conclusion what are your thoughts? do you agree with this verse? disagree? don't understand it? have problems with it? Please comment below, I would like to hear what you have to think, and know that no judgements will be passed, that goes from other readers as well, we are all here to learn and discover, we are all on a different lap of the Race of Faith, and life. 

God bless, 

-Nathan 

The Beginning

This is my first post, and will introduce you to what this blog is all about,
If you are following this blog then you probably already know me in real life, if not then welcome!
This blog is the documentation of my mission trip to Brazil from August 17-31, 2013, it will be an exciting new chapter in my life and walk in faith.
You are probably asking why Brazil and how this all began? well let me start from the beginning.
The summer of 2012 was an interesting summer for me, I was searching for many answers as to what God wanted me to do for the up coming year, 2013. By the end of that summer God had introduced to me the idea of going on a missions trip, this was something I had always wanted to do but never had the opportunity to do so. And so I began praying and thinking about this.
As I went back to my daily life of school and such God began to fill my head more and more of this idea of missions, but I did not know where, or when or even how He wanted me to go. Did He want me to make it a life long profession? or just a short terms trip? these questions along with many others filled my head. Then in late November of 2012 God gave me an answer, an elder in my church had decided he wanted to go on a short term to trip with CBM (Canadian Baptist Missions) to Brazil. My father was told and then told me, I prayed about it and God said "Go!" and so we began this adventure.
The trip was to be in August 2013, from the 17th-31st, we would be working in a youth centre there with a local missionary.
And so that is how it begin, now for it to start! I hope you will be as excited as I am with this new adventure, please join me through this blog as I and my fellow team go and work with those in Brazil.
God bless,
-Nathan