So when you are done with the Race, what are you going to do next?
I get
tingles down my spine as I write this reply to that question. We serve an amazing faithful God.
About a
month ago now I hit a wall with God. I had been praying for the last 9 months that God would show me what I am supposed to do after the race. With no clear answer I decided
that after the race I would go home and join a volunteer fire department and
get a waiter job waiting till spring so I could apply to be a career
firefighter with Poudre Fire Authority in Fort Collins. I felt like God was
with me in this plan and that he was going to bless it. Then one day last month I found
out that I had missed the application deadline for one volunteer department and
was still going to be out of town when the other department did their written
and physical tests excluding me from applying.
I
was so confused and frustrated with God. I decided to take the morning off ministry (which is
something I never do) and fast and pray about where God wants me to be. I was
planning on waiting till the afternoon then calling my brother in law to call
in a favor with his department. But when I opened my Bible to read and pray I
opened straight to Psalms 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.” With that verse and
several others he just gave me the reassurance that I did not have to seek and
try to work for it but that he would provide. That was one of the hardest
things for me to grasp, everything in me wanted to figure it all out and call
in favors and make my own way. I fasted, read and prayed the rest of the morning.
That
afternoon I went to check my email/facebook and received a message from Reza,
the youth pastor at my church back at home (Timberline Church). He used to be
my Bible study leader in junior high and now pastors an incredible college and
young adults ministry, called Nine70 (very similar to a youth group I went to
at CU but in Fort Collins). I went to it a couple times while I was home
before I left. I even went to their retreat 3 days before leaving for the race.
I instantly connected with the men in the group and felt a Christian
fellowship I hadn’t felt since high school. I have had full intention of reconnecting with
them upon returning to Fort Collins and wanted to help out with Nine70 in some
way but still was not sure what that would look like.
After
spending the whole morning praying for what I was supposed to do in the fall
and continually getting “Be still and know that I am God,” He
showed up. The
message from Reza said that he had been thinking about me that morning and how
much he had enjoyed seeing me grow over the past year. He asked me if I had
thought at all about what I would do after the trip. Then he said they were
starting an intense internship and wanted me to be one of their interns. The timing was no coincidence
God had it planned out the entire time. I told him I was very interested and would love some more
info.
About a
week later I get another email from him giving the details of the internship. It
was so much more than I had dreamed or prayed for. Instead of trying to paraphrase
it I just copied it below.
“Josh,
It excites me to think about serving the Lord with you. Well, I
will email you some stuff on the internship. in a nut shell, I am passionate
about training up the next generation of leaders. My ministry heart is to
communicate the Gospel in simple ways to those that haven’t heard the truth.
I
think your role within this internship would be focused on helping us reach the
college campus. Nine70 is shifting and growing in some incredible ways. We have
a vision from God to reach the campus on department / student group at a time.
For example, I want to do a Business School bible study and Greek Bible studies
in every Greek house. You would also be involved in helping run the operations
of Nine70 and strategize with us in reaching every person in their 20’s in Fort
Collins. I am confident that we can share the Gospel in creative ways with
every person in their 20’s in the city. Your internship would also expose you to
counseling people that walk in and need to talk to someone and get pastoral
counseling. We would train you in that as well.
We would expose you to
leadership development course that we would help train you as a future minister
of the Gospel. This training will be beneficial whether you go into full time
vocational ministry or you go back into the market place. Some of the classes
that you would be involved in would include the following topics: Leadership
growth (individual, leading a team), developing preaching skills, counseling
training, time management, cultural engagement, how to disciple someone in a
one on one setting, essentials of leading a ministry structure, etc… You would
be invited to join the Pastoral team in Pastor’s meetings to see what it takes
to run a local church like Timberline. We are in the process of expanding as a
church and this would be a great time to be a part of exciting times of
watching God grow a church. You would be trained by people like me, Dary, Dick
Foth, Rob Cowles, local business leaders.
It is something that we have
developed for a few years now and are excited to get started in doing. The
internships are not paid, but we do provide host homes for our interns. They
would house and feed you. You would be able to have a part time job and would
be pretty busy around the church. I think this would be a GREAT follow up to
your amazing year of ministry.
What do you think? Like I said, it would be a
BLAST to serve with you man.
Let Love Live,
Reza”
The
internship with Nine70 takes so many of my passions and creates an incredible place for me
to grow. It is the answer to so many of my
prayers and is bigger than I could have even imagined!
I have
told Reza that if God allows I still plan on applying for the career
firefighting job in the spring, but this is one of many great examples of how God’s plan
for our life is so much better than ours. Days before I was ticked at God
because I couldn’t be a volunteer firefighter and waiter in the fall and now I
am so excited to see what God has for me in this internship. It is not
perfect or should I say I would not have planned it this way. I know that even though it will be
harder without the volunteer experience, that in the Spring if God still wants
me to have the Poudre Fire Fighter job he will make a way.
After
many years of independent living and having a well paying job I will be living
with my parents again and have no money. I sold my car, motorcycle, bicycle and pretty much
everything I owned to go on this trip and will be coming back with no money and
not much income for the next year. I heard God tell me that He will provide
me with a car/truck and a bike so I am waiting on Him for those things. This year will be another year
of living by faith knowing that if I have a need he will find a way to provide.
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all my supporters because I am
about a $100 away from the $13,800 that I needed for this year! Praise God! I
also have the opportunity to raise up to $1500 more to pay for the health
insurance, flights to and from training camp, the flight to launch and the
flight home from the trip that I have to pay out of pocket. So if you feel led by God to donate you can click on the
“Support me!” button on the menu at the top left of this page.
After
this year, there is no doubt in my mind that God has my life in his hand. No doubt that he will provide. No doubt that he has a perfect
plan. No doubt that He is worth
living for.
