This post is full of a lot of different things. First of all, those who may read this, may not actually know where I will be going. Well, 🙂 let me tell you where I will be going on this trip:
- Mexico
- Guatemala
- Peru
- Bolivia
- South Africa
- Swaziland
- Kenya
- India
- SouthEast Asia (I’ve heard this may be Cambodia)
- China
- And I think the last stop is Los Angeles. Not positive on that though.
Alright, so after i posted some stuff about the training session in georgia a month ago, i said i would post some more thoughts and quotes and stuff from it. so here’s some of that finally:
- ‘It’s not comfortable to follow God’s calling.’ -Ron Walborn
- Look forward to your future, not to your past.
- One of the speakers told this story about someone who got to heaven. That person had lived a good christian life, but didn’t fully follow God. They didn’t obey God fully in regards to his calling on their life. So when that person first got to heaven, God said to them, “Welcome home! But I had so much more for you.” How interesting of a thought is that!!
- We were supposed to come up with ’50 ways to worship without a guitar or worship leader.’ Here’s 4 that I wrote down in my journal: 1) ‘Calling out’ to God (Psalm 99:6) , 2)Giving thanks 3) saying ways that God has been working 4) admire him and what he’s made and done
- One of our speakers was Gary Black. He’s one of the guys who came up with the idea for The World Race. And i think this list of stuff are things that he said: (ha, i’m pretty sure) 1)Life is Hard. 2)You’re not that important. 3) Your life is not about you. 4) You are not in control. 5) You are going to die.
- I don’t remember which speaker said this, but, “The devil has nothing but words. That’s it. Only words, (thoughts to us). Rebuke ’em, and move on.”
- A smile is contagious.
- When we were all debriefing from that ‘No Hope Tent’ thing that i wrote about before, and when i was saying that i felt like i didn’t do enough when i was talking to that girl inside, Clinton (one of the team A leaders) said something to me that really stuck: ”
People don’t care how much you know, but they’ll know how much you care.” Chew on that one for a minute. - Isaiah 66:18, “And I because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and
they will come and see my glory.” There’s a promise for ya! - Psalm 47:8, “God reigns over the nations…”
- Isaiah 60:3, “Nations
will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” They WILL come!!! How huge is that for some of these third world countries. And also for countries like Japan and Sweden, where less that 1% of the population is christian! - The #1 human motivator is FEAR.
- the #1 thing a child needs between ages 1-5, is SAFETY.
- You are going to be you no matter where you go.
- “God doesn’t care about what you do, but he cares about who you are.” – Tom Davis
- Here’s a whole journal entry i wrote. “Sep 14 – 19:25 – Gainesville – AIM. Tom Davis is talking now, he just talked about Mother Theresa, she pulled a guy out of a sewage ditch in Calcutta, brought him to the convent, cleaned him up, the guys looked up at her, and said, ‘I thought you’d find me.’ It was Jesus. then he disappeared. Then i immediately thought, we need to see Jesus and think of Jesus as everybody we see, especially on this trip. Jesus is powerful. eventhough they all may not know it, the whole world longs for Jesus’ love! they do! we are all made in his image.
all of us. and someday, every knee
will bow. - i think in my previous entry about the training, i wrote a verse, “the joy of the lord is our strength.” but i didn’t know the reference and i said i would post it later. well, that reference is Nehemiah 8:10.
Since I got back from training on Sep 15, I shot a wedding on the 16th for a friend from school. I borrowed a Nikon camera from a friend, and even though i have used Nikon digital SLR’s a little bit before, i pretty much had to learn how to use it during the hours before the wedding. A tad stressful. But it ended up going ok. I haven’t heard back from them on how they liked the pictures, but i felt they came out pretty good.
And then since a few days after that, I’ve been working for a professional house painter. I actually worked for him for a week before i went to training. But it’s kinda funny, cuz the owner/my boss, was one of my 7th grade teachers. It’s going well though. He’s a great guy to work for, and painting ain’t bad at all. It’s good $$ and it goes by fast and he’s real flexible with hours.
I’ve been a part of the Hillsdale County Art Guild since the summer, and last weekend we had our Fall show and sale. I had a bunch of framed pieces in the show and was hoping to sell a bunch and put it towards this trip. . . .but i only sold $20 worth. I guess there’s not much of a market for B&W fine art photography in Hillsdale.
Other than those things, I went to Chicago a few weekends ago to visit some friends and a fellow World Racer. Last weekend I was over in the Detroit area at an REI store, and ended up going into the city and hooking up with one of my old Young Life leaders from high school, Joel Beckett. It was sooo great to see him! I hadn’t seen him in a few years. He was probably the biggest role model in my life thus far. He showed me and told me how to be a real christian. I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for his influence. (and i guess you could say that about a few more people too, obviously parents and brother, and a few close friends, but yeah)
I’ve also been doing a lot of other preparations for the trip. Spiritual preparations (we’re starting a small group devotional now), keeping up with my other teammates. Researching equipment I need. I’ve already gotten a pair of light hiking shoes, a rain shell and just ordered a pair of Chaco sandals today. I still need to get a big backpack, a tent, sleeping bag and some other stuff. And I’m actually going to Chicago again on the 28th to REI for one of their Garage Sales. they sell used and imperfect stuff for way WAY cheap!
I also was laboring in coming up with a logo for The World Race. I had ideas in my head for it, for a long time, but was having trouble getting it onto the computer. But finally, last Wednesday I got it!
what do ya think?
so yeah, that’s what’s been going on lately.
God bless, ryan
