Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies.
– Charles Edward Jefferson
Inward Growth
It was clear to me that 2013 was going to be split in quarters for me. It was pretty obvious when I chased the 13th tangible goal. The end of that story and the beginning of new one—to serve with utmost obedience and joy—started at the start of April. I found myself more involved with church—whether that be a small group (two, actually), a feeding ministry, our normal Young Adults group, a leadership group, a morning prayer team that met twice a week, or just serving communion on Sundays. I was doing a lot. I knew this would happen when I stuck to my decision to not say “no” to anyone who asks for help. I would definitely have to say that I have successfully crossed out tangible goal #5 because of that.
As tired as I was participating in all of these different groups and ministries as well as balancing a full time job, I knew burn out was just around the corner. Many of my own peers constantly reminded me of this. Burn out from ministry happened to me before1, and I knew at this rate it will happen again. But every single time I would pray about it—whether or not I should step back from one or two (or even most) ministries, every being of me told me that I am to endure it through at this time. I would not only endure, but I need to do so with a renewed joy and happiness from within. I am to always look to God for rest and the energy I needed. The energy I needed to keep going wasn’t mine, and I knew I could do what I was doing because He called me to do so. The things I did was out of love for my God—in complete obedience. I just knew the end of this kind of participation—which I always referred to as my “outward growth” phase—was going to come again at the end of the September. I had this feeling when I took a co-leader position for Muffin Ministry.
But that time was always a bit arbitrary in my head. I knew there were a number of people that I met at Newsong that were going to leave. They were off to find new work. They were going to graduate school. Everyone called it a “new season” in life—in both individuals and community groups. I hoped that time would also be mine. During my time with God, I would always ask if this season is coming to an end, and if so what is the next season supposed to be like. I find myself seeing hints of “inward growth”. I didn’t quite understand what that was supposed to be. I didn’t understand why I would go back to that because I felt that’s what I was doing for the past two years before I came down to Irvine—self discovery and seeking out the uniqueness of who He’s made me to be.
It wasn’t until the third quarter when God blessed me with a very unexpected and beautiful relationship. It was nearing the end of that quarter what I knew He’s called me to. And honestly, it really solidified this idea after my girlfriend left for Spain.2
And really, this next season of my life—at least until mid-2014 if not longer—is centered around what Paul wrote to the Galatians:
“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won€™t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit€™s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”
– The Apostle Paul, Galatians 5:16-26 NLT
My focus is the fruit of the Spirit. We do not grow the fruit. Only the Holy Spirit will grow the fruit. We are no different than a farmer preparing the land to allow God to do His good work in us to let us grow into the Christ-like being we were designed for. It is in that I am to put my focus and energy. And I can honestly say that things will get harder and harder as I get closer to where He wants me to be. This is not to say that when I am finished with this season I will be the Christian follower I sought out for. No. But I feel I will reach a new level of understanding of God’s love for me and drive and passion to love others.
And there’s one thing extremely important about growth in the Spirit. The fruit that Paul writes about is its singular form. The fruit of the Spirit is all these things Paul wrote about: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness gentleness, and self-control. It’s all these things that will grow together. The fruit concatenates all these things and the true work of the Holy Spirit in us will grow this fruit at once.
At the time of this writing, I find myself impatient. In my search to condition my patience, I cannot do so in a vacuum. I have to take in the other entities Paul writes about as I gain more patience. I do not do these things on my own. I have to ask the Spirit to work in me. That I do so with the faithfulness He has called me to have. That I may have patience and act out of love, kindness, and gentleness. From that I have an authentic outwardly appearance of joy and goodness. And in that the Spirit continues to grow that I may have peace and complete self-control over the situation that God has placed me so I may grow and serve for His purpose.
It’s only been a month. Every week with every day brings something new to test my endurance. I am already growing weary. Just like I did before in the first three quarters of this year, I must look to God for rest and energy. With Him I can do all things.
- I graduated from APU with a BA in Christian Ministry. My last year I needed to be an intern at a church. I interned at my home church at WVCC in Northridge—which was a 100 mile round trip drive. I needed to be out there three times a week. I was so burnt out of doing ministry, I knew I didn’t have the passion or drive to become a professional minister. I backed down from the prospects of doing ministry full time ever since. It’s taken me close to 8 years to get back into any kind of ministry at a church. Burn out is seriously bad. [↩]
- At the time of this writing, I still haven’t written this story. But in a nutshell, we did decide to do a long distance relationship. This is something I have never done before and am still scared how to this properly without being an idiot or just straight out losing her. She’ll be gone until next summer. [↩]
Amazing Mercy
The grace of God is infinite and eternal. As it had no beginning, so it can have no end.
– A.W. Tozer
Afternoon Coffee with God
This was transcribed from a prayer entry from my Moleskin journal. I visited a small coffee off of the PCH in Encinitas. I had a few hours to kill and I hadn’t had any time to write to God. I found this to be a great spot to do so. Also, since I did write this entry via pen and paper, it is intentional that this is scribed verbatim from the original source (grammar errors and all).
What a beautiful day you have made! I am so blessed for what you have made for me. Thank you for the time where I’m able to just let in the presence of your creation. I really don’t know what to write. I know there are a lot of things on my heart I can easily seek for and ask—as you say I should ask… but I’m wondering if I can just come to you—to just speak to you—and to spend time with you. I know your love is great. I don’t want to come to you, God, for your stuff. I want to have the intention and and action to come to you just for you. I want to come to you with the faith and hope that it is your will for my life that can freely love for. I pray that I do not life for the happiness that you can bring, but recognize the pure joy I can partake with you because you came to save me and that you are always working for my good.
I want to be continually reminded of the blessings that came before me. As great as my memory is (in which you gave me), I continually forget about the good and always focus on the “what’s next”. I want you to infuse me of the true peace of your Spirit. I want to set myself aside—that I will not be an obstacle to your Holy Spirit, that I always yield to the Spirit at every test.
I guess I can’t stop thinking about this new quarter. You gave me something when I least expect it. And now I feel that pending sensation. This next quarter—spilling over to next year—is a time for preparation and a new inward growth. And I feel I’ll be frustrated at times. I am most likely going to fail and feel defeated, and I will be stretched then challenged in ways I cannot foresee. My emotions and physique may change—and it’s in a way you want me to change. It will be a time of inward organic growth.
And I know you will show me things—placed desires in me that I will work towards—but I know I will not be patient. Remind me, Father, that I am to be patient and grow through you every day. Remind me that you are the source of my joy. Through you I can be content. Through you I can live in peace. I will love. I will find self control. I will be patient.
Creator of the world you placed me in, I ask for even more wisdom. I ask for focus. Remove the things from my life that distracts me from the things you called me into.
I hope what I am feeling is a desire from you crafted in me. This idea that I am not rooted to any one place except to your heart—that you will call me and I will answer. That I may trust in you to provide all things—all things my body, mind, and soul long for—that it comes from you.
And give me a good rest that I can find in you. I pray these things in your Son’s name—Jesus Christ—Amen!
Work of God
The way I was doing the work of God destroyed the work of God in me.
– Craig Rochell via Bill Hybel
What have I done?
What have I done to deserve this? Even though nothing has been determined, nothing has been decided between the two of us, the mere act—the dance between us is a blessing in itself. What makes me worthy of such a blessing? I am nothing without my God, but through Him I am more than I can imagine.
But the feeling I have for this wonderful daughter of Yours is something I longed but forgotten. It’s an unfolding mystery. It’s a story in writing. It’s an exploration of emotions. It’s a discovery of who we are—individually and together.
It brings me joy. It excites me in the morning. It keeps me sleepless at night. I look forward to every second and it pushes me to dream bigger—further out in the space we reside and the time we occupy.
And even though there is an inevitable end to it all, I am not worried and I am not concerned. I live for today and today alone. I wait on You, Lord, for my bread—in physical, mental, and spiritual nourishment. We live for today together, because today is a day you made and it is good.
Thank you for showing me “us” thus far. I’ll cherish every moment. I’ll hold onto every Word of Yours. I pray that I continue to obey your every command. We will live to honor You—to glorify Your name. All praise to You, our God.
Thirty weeks in
I may have lost focus. I may have been selfish. I may have forgotten where I was—or where I was going—or where I’ve been and why this was a blessing from God. But here I am, only writing about this when I feel things are a bit rocky and unsure if I’m catching us as we’re falling or if I’m trying to pick up the pieces.
I was originally going to write why we worked. I first spoke of this small group in my 2012 review.
I heard the church was putting a new small groups meeting on Sunday. This was after I already discovered the young adults group and was thinking about passing on the small group thing and just try to build a small group out in young adults. Even though I intended to go to the meeting, I was making up excuses not to go. Ultimately, I dragged myself and walked back over to the church. I didn’t recognize anyone at this meeting. I sat in the back with a table that looked like young couples. I looked around and it seemed like it was mostly couples and families. Definitely not my demographic. We were asked to break up and find a small group according to location and then similar demographic. I just sat there. I figure I’ll leave unnoticed.
On my way out, I did notice a somewhat younger group to my left. I was compelled to approach them and sit down. It was rather awkward. I came in relatively late and it seemed like I killed the conversation. So now I’m thinking of a not so awkward exit. Well, that didn’t happen. I tried to break the ice with small talk. Eventually the group came back together after we were instructed to answer a few small group questions. It was time to assign roles to the group. Again, up until this point, I still expected to just sort of duck out. I didn’t fill out my sheet. In the end, I was nominated to be the group’s leader—well, more specifically, the group’s facilitator—liaison to the church. That was most unexpected.
After the meeting concluded, I gathered everyone’s contact information, took the small group facilitator folder, and walked over to Starbucks to think this out. I was nervous. I didn’t want this to fail. I felt it was now my responsibility for this small group to be successful. From my past experience, it’s so difficult organize a small group of young adults—who are also busy with their professional career—to consistently get together for something like this. I sat there reading the material figuring out what can I possibly do?
The answer? Nothing.
God made it clear that this is His group. It’s not mine at all. He put us all together for His glory. I was told to act accordingly. I asked for patience and wisdom. I asked that he takes away the anxiousness. I ask that this group will recognize the purpose He wants to give us. That we go on our own little adventure to discover why He put us together.
I remember our first meeting as a small group. We decided to meet at a Panera Bread at the corner of Culver and Barranca. It must have been finals week or something, the place was crowded with college students. I knew there were going to be around 10 new possible members who wants to do this small group thing. I worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a table. That worrying thought went away in about 3 seconds when I found this huge rectangle table in the middle of the restaurant with roughly 10 chairs surrounding it. I had to look around. There were groups of students everywhere huddled together around these smaller tables. I was a bit confused why this large table remained open despite how crowded the restaurant was. I thanked God, sat, and waited.
As somewhat a joke, I asked everyone to introduce themselves and tell an embarrassing story. I didn’t think it would stick, but the group agreed to do it. We got along pretty well. It was a good first meeting despite not quite knowing what we ought to do. I told everyone I would email them the details of the next meeting.
The group met consistently through the rest of December despite there being holidays. We kept meeting at the same Panera Bread (except for the Christmas party) until sometime past the New Year. We started to meet at Newsong’s prayer room. The original group of people who signed from the start—with the exception of two (and one of them recently sounds like she is making a comeback)—has been very consistent every single week.
It didn’t take long—actually it was almost immediate—that there was a brand new young adults small group at New Song. I’m sure the constant Facebook posts of us hanging out and having a good time helped the publicity, but almost every single time I went to Thursday night’s NYA1, I would get questions about the small group. I didn’t officially close the small group, but I also didn’t actively invite anyone either. I wanted to keep it small. For those who have joined since then has been more like on the heart’s of the other members inviting people in. “I felt really led to invite Chris,” as my friend Jin put it for one of the late members into the group. I wanted to make sure that this group moved as God moved us.
I was asked a number of times why did this new small group work. Why is this one still going after seven months while others failed to meet for a single month. I did answer with placing God as the focus of the group and asking Him to guide us through. Though, I also followed up with an important idea that I quickly discovered after the first week. Everyone in the group had to be willing to be there. I know we all have our own personal hidden agendas of why we want to be a part of a small close-knit community. But more importantly, I think in order to place yourself there, you really wanted to be there and commit to it. Every single person who attended was searching for something missing in their life, and they wanted to see to it if that missing something can be found in a group whose commitment is to both Christ and to each other.
And strangely enough, in order to do so, they actually needed to surrender themselves completely in order for it to work. We needed to give control back to our God. We were all in a similar place of being in the “in-between” life of post-college and pre-marriage. As individuals, we have been controlling our own lives as we moved through these years. But I think the day we all signed up to try this small group thing, we were tired of holding onto said control and wanted to see how we could do it if we did surrender.
Since we started, I’ve been invited out to a number of leadership-type events at my church. I was asked to speak at two other small group launches at Newsong, I’ve been more or less a part of another new small group where their leaders asked me to come out a few times, I somehow took a leadership role in a feeding ministry for Santa Ana, took yet a somewhat leadership role in a morning prayer group that meets twice a week, and had the chance to lead out a couple impromptu worship sessions for different groups at Newsong. I’ve been very busy.
Being constantly busy prevented me of getting the needed rest, prayer, and study that I needed on a weekly basis. Even though I was out for good reason with a good community in Christ, my own prayer and devotional life has been suffering. My first ministry at Newsong was this small group, and it was made apparent to me earlier this week that the slow spiritual growth in my personal life bled over to the overall spiritual growth of our small group. I know I am not the leader or even hold a pastoral role for the group, but I do organize and set the tone for it. And it’s been evident that even though we all love each other and have a lot of fun with each other, we’ve been spiritually stagnant as a group.
We do have a structure where we get into the Word every other week—it alternates between Bible study, a group activity night, and a worship night. It was great at the start of the group. I would ask people to lead out the study and wouldn’t receive any resistance. Nowadays, it’s been getting difficult to get people to lead. And when they do, the group itself doesn’t seem to be in the right mindset to accept the teachings of their fellow peers.
We’re thirty weeks in. That’s thirty weeks in a row that we’ve met since the start of the group’s formation. Our 31st meeting is tomorrow. As an appointed leader for this group, I have a number of decisions to make. I do have a vision for this group. I also have a period of healthy time for this group. Though, these are just my thoughts all with consulting God. I can only pray that as I share my concern and vision for us, that God prepare the hearts and minds of these people who first brought together nearly 8 months ago.
- Newsong Young Adults [↩]
A ministry that started with muffins
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'”1
Thirteen weeks ago, I was engulfed in a story God wrote into my life where He explicitly showed me that He can and will place me wherever He wanted whenever He wanted. During that time there was the first night of worship at the Wilder conference held at Newsong2, God ignited a passion for the spiritually starved in a young woman’s heart. She left the night of worship early to go home and bake muffins. I’m unsure of exactly what God wrote on her heart, but from what I heard she wanted to reach out into the homeless of Santa Ana—not to just feed the people with food, but ultimately feed them with the love and justice of Jesus Christ.
I first heard about the outreach to Santa Ana early on when I joined Newsong. It was an idea that was in the hearts of the leaders at the church. When talking about where the new physical home of the church will be, there were always talks about going into Santa Ana. Everyone felt there was a huge calling that our church ought to dive in headfirst and do outreach to the lost and hungry in that city. But even with the murmuring with Santa Ana, I didn’t have the same heart as the leaders.
During Lent, a number of Newsong Young Adults held a 6AM morning prayer meeting twice a week. That is dedication from a group that most likely don’t sleep any time before midnight. I had to go check it out for two reasons: 1) who is crazy enough to pray at six in the morning; and 2) the girls constantly outnumbered the guys every morning.3. I witnessed amazing things happening almost every morning prayer. For one, I knew with absolute assurance and clarity when the Holy Spirit would speak to and for me. There were mornings where multiple prayer warriors would wake up without any assistance to get up and to pray as part of this community. There were times where a number of us would have vivid visions in dreams that occurred at the same time in the early mornings. The Holy Spirit would speak into our hearts and show us the same things so when it was time for us to share with one another, we would constantly share the same pieces of God’s living Word. This was happening. It was real. God was moving in our midst in prayer and communion. And it was there when we brought up the outreach to feed the homeless and needy of Santa Ana. But even with that prayer on our hearts, no one moved until muffins were made.
After Kiana baked muffins, she went out into Santa Ana with two other—Jane and Caleb—with the purpose of meeting individuals and showing their love of Christ. They understood their purpose. They were made to love and to show said love to all they would meet along their path.
I didn’t hear any of this until nearly a week later. There were two other girls in my small group—well, they’re both named Sarah—that wanted to do the same the following Saturday. When I found out that just the two girls were going, I absolutely insisted that I would go with them. I know that most likely absolutely nothing was going to happen, but earlier that month I was going on this weird chivalristic kick.4 I went with the Sarahs, and I pretty much just stood around being a mule and carrying food for them to distribute. I don’t do well making friends. I didn’t know what I was doing. When the girls needed food, I gave them food. When they asked me to lay hands and pray, I did just that. I figure this whole feeding ministry thing was just going to be a one-off kind of event. I was wrong.
The following week, the group became bigger. It consisted with the original group that started the week before, Sarahs and myself, and there were a number of others that heard about it (mainly through the morning prayer meeting) to come out and serve. More people from the young adults heard about it. More people came out. This happened week after week.
Both Kiana and Jane felt like they needed to pass the leadership torch of this Saturday morning feeding ministry. They passed it to Virginia—who seemed completely on fire and passionate about the ministry. She’s outgoing and loves connecting with people. The other leader? Well, yours truly. I couldn’t be more opposite of Virginia.
We immediately found connections to help us out with the ministry. There was a local church that reached out to the same area we were present every Saturday. They actually fed the people there for breakfast. What they didn’t have was the kind of group of people to go out there. So from the get go, we wanted to keep the vision simple and true to how it began—show the love of Christ by loving these people. We held on to the muffins as a catalyst to start a conversation We wanted to create meaningful relationships. We didn’t want to be a single-serving friend. We wanted to be a familiar face and that we can be accepted into their community and in turn tell them a love story that they are also accepted in the community with God’s family.
While Virginia worked the front-end of things such as increasing exposure so more young adults would come out as well as connecting with other people with the same heart to donate resources; I worked the back-end of things such as making this ministry official at Newsong and receiving our own church’s help. I also met another servant with the same heart for the same location at our church: Vinny. Vinny is very connected in the Santa Ana community and greatly aids us every week with free coffee and pastries from the local Starbucks.
It’s been an amazing three months serving in this ministry Saturday after Saturday. I don’t know how long this ministry will go. I don’t know how long I’ll be placed as a leader. The one thing about these people who are actively serving in this ministry is that we’re in this fluid life stage—post-college but not married. Many of these servants are still finding their identity and place in God’s story. It’s an amazing life stage because you really can do anything your heart’s desire. When we’re all in for something, we are all in for it. But without any real anchor (like family) keeping us in one place, we can move at a whim. This ministry—dubbed the Muffin Ministry—will not look the same today as it will be by summer’s end. About a third or more of the core group will not longer be serving just because they won’t even be in the area. Also, I don’t know how long the fire in their eyes will burn for this ministry. What do I need to do as a leader to prevent something feeling like a chore and keep them motivated that what we do here every week is out of love for our Savior?
The only constant I know is God. He placed us here in this place at this time to serve. I pray that He blesses me as well as the other leaders with a passion and wisdom to keep serving no matter where it takes us.
There are actually a number of stories that came out of this ministry. More of them need to be written, but here’s another blog.
- Matthew 25:34-40 NLT [↩]
- Mar 16th, 2013. I also mentioned it briefly in Unexpected friends [↩]
- I am doing my part to represent the young adult men in our church! [↩]
- I was finding my identify of what it meant to be just a man. I figure one of qualities I failed to express is a “chivalristic” one—but really just as simple as being outward protective like walking a girl to her car in a dark parking lot, walking on the street side, facing the exits in rooms, etc. [↩]
Small steps
I wrote this post to my 6AM Morning Prayer group while I was away in Hawaii on May 1st. I couldn’t help wonder and look in the recent past of all the blessings God has done in my life, yet I felt I was still missing something and unsure how to respond to that.
Hello prayer warriors!
As I mentioned in my last stream-of-thought post, I’m so excited to be part of such a loving and devoted community to both God and each other. We were all once broken, and in Him we are made new (2 Cor 5:17).
This has been on my mind since I flew out last Thursday. I’ve been figuring out how to organize these scattered thoughts, and this idea is nothing new under the sun, but it was something I was reminded of when I left after our morning prayer and pondered upon 38,000 feet over the Pacific. So I’m hoping for those who find themselves in a similar place will find this helpful.
This is in regards to those prayers our hearts deeply desire for and ask God to fulfill (Psalms 37:4). I found God answering some of my prayers and not others. I figure it’s one of those it’s His timing and not mine so I should continue to seek, pray, obey, and wait in patience. Then after that thought occurred for some reason almost every sermon, message, testimony I’ve heard over the years that talked how God will show you just a few steps ahead or light a lamp to see what’s just in front of you and not the full picture popped in my head. “Okay, yeah sure, heard that one before,” I thought.
I wondered why experience the bits and pieces at a time before finally getting to the end? Why put so much emphasis on the journey compared to the destination? But then I realized these bits and pieces is God answering my prayers… And doing so daily. These small steps we take through life is part of our learning and spiritual growth. I am not ready for what my heart desires. I had to ask myself how do I prepare to be ready? Do I really want just what the destination has in store for me, or is the bulk of my heart’s desire the journey itself? I discovered the roots of what I long for are the fruits of me changing and being more mature and righteous as Jesus Christ works in me (John 15:2,4).
The accumulation of walking these small steps with Christ will mature our spiritual growth and our hearts will be made ready. So for those of us running into uncomfortable conflict with the people we work, play, or live with, I pray we continue to lift each other up in Christ to give us the needed strength to take on any trial. We keep praying that we keep faith and endure through it all so we are made complete (James 1:4)
Again, I’m sure many of you heard this before, but I guess it was my turn to get this “ah-hah” moment. At the end of the night when I find myself another day away from my destination, I take comfort that Christ is always with me through the journey… Teaching, sculpting, pruning me to be the servant He wants me to be.
See you all next week!
Tangible goals update for Q1 2013
Three solid months have passed since I posted my tangible goals for 2013. April is mostly over as well, so let’s see where I stand.
Write a tangible goal list.DONE, duh!Launch twinwork.net.It’s up there. I consider it launched. I still need to port over more articles, but the new site is out there!- Create a photography/portfolio blog. What? this is on here? I totally didn’t remember this one. I should take a look at this project over the summer.
- Learn 2 lead rifts in 3 keys on the guitar. Okay, I need to make an addendum to this one. I haven’t learned any lead rifts yet, but I’m getting way better at key signatures, transposing, and improved my singing. So if I don’t hit this specific goal, not a big deal. This is the only guitar/music-related goal on the list and I’m still progressing in this area.
Serve in at least one ministry at Newsong.DONE! I’m not even counting of me being a leader in my small group either! So during Lent a few people from the Young Adults group wanted to do a 6AM Morning Prayer ministry every Tuesday and Thursday. Well, it was such an awesome experience during Lent that we decided to keep going! Yup! You read that right, six ‘o clock in the morning! I lead (open up) selected mornings, so that counts as a ministry!And from that morning prayers, some people felt compelled to reach out and feed the hungry in Santa Ana. We dubbed it the Muffin Ministry and I somehow got nominated to co-lead that ministry. So take that number five on the list!- Find and learn from at least one mentor. This is a work in progress. I have found possible mentors, but they haven’t quite completely embraced that mentoring role. Either way, I have found individuals that I am able to look up to and learn from.
- Find one person to mentor. The results are still very similar to the one above. Though, there is one person I found that I’ve been helping through his faith and his trials. I don’t know if I could officially call it mentoring, but it’s still fun pour into his life from what I’ve learned from my own.
- Post a story to singlethread.org once a month. This is still going strong! I know there’s a number of stories that are password protected (for good reason), but I’m still posting them!
- Fly to Hawaii to see Joel (and Iron Man 3) to celebrate our 20th friendiversary. This is happening later this week. I won’t cross it out until I get back.
- …And fly Joel out here to see Hillsong. Pending goal…
- Build that new computer! I’m seriously downgrading this goal. As much as I want it, I don’t really see this benefiting me in the short term (this year). If anything I might just pony up to get a Macbook Pro (Retina) or a Macbook Air when the CPUs get upgraded to Intel’s Haswell.
- Buy that D800 & 105mm macro lens. It’s very similar to the above. My photography was driving the need for a new computer and I just haven’t found myself shooting that much. I imagine I’ll actually end up buying the macro lens before year’s end.By the way, achieving points 11 and 12 would have cost me about $10,000. I think it’s wiser for me to hold on to that in the event God needs me to disperse those resources elsewhere…
- Be her Adam for your Eve. You’ve seen the titles for the protected posts. It seemed like that goal was going to be met, but not quite yet… Apparently God has other plans for me where I should stay in complete singleness. I’m hoping this state isn’t for an extended period of time…
That’s 3 of 13 that are completely done. There are 5 of 13 that are definitely in progress. I’d say this is pretty good progress!