One of my friends from college, Blake, has been involved in a very traumatic few months. His mother, Marcia, was diagnosed with cancer in June, and passed away on Thursday. I ache for him. At the same time I am thankful for his confidence that his mother will be in heaven. I hope that he can always look forward to that day when he rejoins her there. If you want to check out his blog it is at blakewell.blogspot.com
During times of sadness and joy, it seems that poetry is always a good way to express how you feel. This may not be good but it is how I am going to try to express myself in this situation.
Good things come,
Good things pass away,
Bad things come,
Bad things pass away,
But one thing remains the same,
That our God loves us forever.
We have heard of the miraculous signs he performed.
He performed great feats in order to protect his people.
He healed the lame, cast out demons, and freed people from sickness.
Therefore, I ask this question.
Why not this time?
Why are innocent peoples lives cut short?
God, they had many years of service to you in them yet!
Lord, I know that this world is imperfect.
That is why people live and die,
And suffer pain and hurt,
So please help me to remember,
Good things come,
Good things pass away,
Bad things come,
Bad things pass away,
But one thing remains the same,
That our God loves is forever.
Josh
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Singing...
Here I am sitting by myself, getting ready to read a book for grad school and I just have this urge to tell about an inspirational story. I told you that Satan, was on the attack in our youth group. He is also attacking me personally. He has caused an old temptation to rear it's ugly head and try to bring me down! But between me and God, we won't allow it to bother me (God doing most of the work obviously). Anyway, back to the story.
So last night, I had to drive the church van to go pick up kids and we had so many that I had to drop one load off and go get some more, but that is not the amazing part. Anyways, I told one of the older guys in the youth group that I would be late because I had to go get some more people and to just start singing. Well, I walked into the youth room and wow! They were singing! It was so awesome. Now I have to let you know, that I grew up in music, I played the piano and the clarinet and I also play the guitar, I also took voice lessons and was in choir in junior high and high school for a combined total of 5 years and I also was in choral at Oklahoma Christian University for one year. I know what good singing is and what it isn't. And this was not it! At least not the physical part of it. It sounded horrible to my trained physical ear, but it was the most beautiful thing to my spiritual ear. They were singing out, smiles on their faces...wow...I just can't say how awesome God is. He has been working on their hearts. It's nothing I did.
Praise be to God!
Josh
So last night, I had to drive the church van to go pick up kids and we had so many that I had to drop one load off and go get some more, but that is not the amazing part. Anyways, I told one of the older guys in the youth group that I would be late because I had to go get some more people and to just start singing. Well, I walked into the youth room and wow! They were singing! It was so awesome. Now I have to let you know, that I grew up in music, I played the piano and the clarinet and I also play the guitar, I also took voice lessons and was in choir in junior high and high school for a combined total of 5 years and I also was in choral at Oklahoma Christian University for one year. I know what good singing is and what it isn't. And this was not it! At least not the physical part of it. It sounded horrible to my trained physical ear, but it was the most beautiful thing to my spiritual ear. They were singing out, smiles on their faces...wow...I just can't say how awesome God is. He has been working on their hearts. It's nothing I did.
Praise be to God!
Josh
Monday, August 22, 2005
Satan is on the attack
A lot has happened since my last post. My youth group had a wonderful, relationship building, spirit-strengthening summer. I saw this group go from about 10 to around 20 members. I saw them go from surface friends to Christian brothers and sisters. It is after all of this success that Satan tries to take us down. Rumors and bitter words have been flying around like leaves in a whirlwind. Satan's demons are stirring up trouble. He does not want us to have success in this community. I fervently ask that all of you out there who read this; please pray for this youth group. Pray for God's protection and Satan's defeat.
I became fully aware of the situation yesterday though I had seen little warning signs before then. Two sources came to me confirming my suspicions. Then last night, I addressed the youth group directly after church. I read them 1 Peter 5:8, 9 about Satan being like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Then I read to them from Ephesians 4 about unity and what all we have in common even though we have conflicting personalities, and different points of view. Then I read to them from John 17 and Jesus' prayer for future disciples and showed them that they are going against Jesus' wishes and prayer for us. Then I told them to cut it out and work it out. I hope that I did the right thing.
When evening services started yesterday, I was undecided as to what I needed to do. Yesterday, we as a congregation had time to just spend singing praises to God. I got up to take requests and lead some songs. Somebody requested God's Family by Lanny Wolfe. The refrain got to me, "And sometimes we laugh together, sometimes we cry; sometimes we share together, heartaches and sighs; sometimes we dream together of how it will be. When we all get to heaven, God's family." I was standing up there trying to mask the tears. I don't know if anybody noticed, but I truly felt the Spirit talk to me through that song. I felt the itch and knew I must scratch. I knew what I had to do and I know that God will bless it.
Josh
I became fully aware of the situation yesterday though I had seen little warning signs before then. Two sources came to me confirming my suspicions. Then last night, I addressed the youth group directly after church. I read them 1 Peter 5:8, 9 about Satan being like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Then I read to them from Ephesians 4 about unity and what all we have in common even though we have conflicting personalities, and different points of view. Then I read to them from John 17 and Jesus' prayer for future disciples and showed them that they are going against Jesus' wishes and prayer for us. Then I told them to cut it out and work it out. I hope that I did the right thing.
When evening services started yesterday, I was undecided as to what I needed to do. Yesterday, we as a congregation had time to just spend singing praises to God. I got up to take requests and lead some songs. Somebody requested God's Family by Lanny Wolfe. The refrain got to me, "And sometimes we laugh together, sometimes we cry; sometimes we share together, heartaches and sighs; sometimes we dream together of how it will be. When we all get to heaven, God's family." I was standing up there trying to mask the tears. I don't know if anybody noticed, but I truly felt the Spirit talk to me through that song. I felt the itch and knew I must scratch. I knew what I had to do and I know that God will bless it.
Josh
Sunday, August 07, 2005
My last three weeks
Well, it has been quite a while since I have written on this and the reason is because I went to two different camps and Six Flags in Arlington. Black Mesa Bible Camp was the first one I went to. I have to say that it was probably one of the most exceptional church camps I have ever participated in. I could feel God moving in everything there. I even felt him move in me when I gave a talk in chapel. I made many friends that I can hardly wait to see again next year and I had time to just spend with God. The only down side was that I had to be reading books for my grad class that is due on Wednesday but there is no way I am going to make the deadline.
The second camp I went to was Quartz Mountain Christian camp. It was very good also. We had good times singing, hiking and just getting to know people. Seven people made the decision to follow Christ and were baptized. One was a girl from my youth group. I have several pictures from QMCC also (I forgot to bring my camera to Black Mesa).
The Six Flags trip was nuts. We left on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. and our plan was to go to a Texas Rangers game that night at 7:05 p.m. Normally, to get to Arlington from here would be less than a five hour trip but with the youth group along and potty breaks and all, I figured it would take us about 6 hours which would still put is into our hotel around 4:00. Plenty of time to get settled in our hotel and then go to the baseball game. Well, things did not go as planned. First, the air conditioner in our 18 passenger bus went out. So we stopped and tried to get that fixed in a couple places only to find out that first, somebody didn't know how to work on it and then at a chevy dealer we found out they had 25 cars ahead of us and could in no way get us in in time. So, we went to Walmart and bought a fan and told the kids to tough it out. Second, about 2 miles outside of Decatur, Texas I was driving along in the church van (we had a bus and a van) and all of a sudden, thunk thunk, boom!!! Jen thought we had run over one of those tire treads laying on the road because she saw one flying up behind us. Well, we stopped and looked and low and behold it was our tire tread. The tread had ripped right off of the inside of our tire and somehow it didn't blow. So what should have been about a six hour trip, took about 8 hours and then by the time we got to the Fort Worth/Dallas area, we got stuck in traffic. Needless to say, I learned a lot of patience this week. I could also see God's hand working in it despite all of the annoyances. The tire accident happened about 2 miles from a tire shop and if it had happened about 40 miles down the road we would have been smack dab in the middle of Fort Worth. Plus, the simple fact that the tire ripping off didn't cause it to blow is a miracle to me, especially since I was going 70 miles an hour. God was looking out for us and holding us in his hand. I am very grateful.
Well, I hope you enjoyed getting caught up on the last three weeks of my life.
Josh
The second camp I went to was Quartz Mountain Christian camp. It was very good also. We had good times singing, hiking and just getting to know people. Seven people made the decision to follow Christ and were baptized. One was a girl from my youth group. I have several pictures from QMCC also (I forgot to bring my camera to Black Mesa).
The Six Flags trip was nuts. We left on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. and our plan was to go to a Texas Rangers game that night at 7:05 p.m. Normally, to get to Arlington from here would be less than a five hour trip but with the youth group along and potty breaks and all, I figured it would take us about 6 hours which would still put is into our hotel around 4:00. Plenty of time to get settled in our hotel and then go to the baseball game. Well, things did not go as planned. First, the air conditioner in our 18 passenger bus went out. So we stopped and tried to get that fixed in a couple places only to find out that first, somebody didn't know how to work on it and then at a chevy dealer we found out they had 25 cars ahead of us and could in no way get us in in time. So, we went to Walmart and bought a fan and told the kids to tough it out. Second, about 2 miles outside of Decatur, Texas I was driving along in the church van (we had a bus and a van) and all of a sudden, thunk thunk, boom!!! Jen thought we had run over one of those tire treads laying on the road because she saw one flying up behind us. Well, we stopped and looked and low and behold it was our tire tread. The tread had ripped right off of the inside of our tire and somehow it didn't blow. So what should have been about a six hour trip, took about 8 hours and then by the time we got to the Fort Worth/Dallas area, we got stuck in traffic. Needless to say, I learned a lot of patience this week. I could also see God's hand working in it despite all of the annoyances. The tire accident happened about 2 miles from a tire shop and if it had happened about 40 miles down the road we would have been smack dab in the middle of Fort Worth. Plus, the simple fact that the tire ripping off didn't cause it to blow is a miracle to me, especially since I was going 70 miles an hour. God was looking out for us and holding us in his hand. I am very grateful.
Well, I hope you enjoyed getting caught up on the last three weeks of my life.
Josh
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