As the days to launch grow fewer and fewer ( 49 days from today ) I find myself thinking less of the race, and thinking more of home. As excited as I am to go, I cannot explain how excited I am for these last 49 days that I get to serve my church at every opportunity. I get to spend time with my great community of friends, and hangout with my family. I have a huge heart for Missions, both international and domestic, but the HOPE OF THE WORLD is the Local Church. Jesus is the hope and salvation of mankind, and the Local Church is the vehicle in which He has chosen to distribute His saving grace. This blog / Photo Blog is about that. Its about a young man who was in a pit of darkness full of selfishness and destruction, and how the body of Christ showed Him who Jesus truly is, and the abundant life he has now been given because of that. This is a touch longer than my normal blogs, but there are lots of pretty pictures, so please please stay with me till the end.
This is my Home. Milestone Church. This is where I met Jesus for the first time, where He changed my life. Where I experienced the love of God, pure and without condition.
This is where I learned to Love, and to grow up. This is where I gained LIFE.
I owe so much to my family. They have been there sand supported me in so many ways and I truly see God moving in their lives in powerful ways. My relationship with them has grown so much over the past three years!
One of the most important things in our lives outside of Jesus is community. God did not create us to go through life alone. We He made Adam He looked at man all alone and said “ This is not good” so He made him a companion, Eve. True, loving community is so important as we walk out and go through our lives as Christians, People to love you, support you and pick you up when you fall and vice versa. These are some of the amazing friends I have been blessed with these last 3 years. I did not know that it was possible to have so many TRUE friends.
Through a series of circumstances outside of my control, I was chosen to serve in Kids ministry, the last place I ever wanted to serve. Since that happened 2 years ago, I have fallen in love with children. The highlight of my week is Sunday morning where I lead small groups with 3rd grade boys. These amazing boys are the future of the world and the Church and I am humbled daily that the Lord would choose me to invest in their lives. I love my 3rd grade boys dearly.
For three years I have had the honor of leading the Setup and Facilities team for Elevate, our youth service. These are some of the young men I get to serve with. Young men who love God, love their fellow students, and are willing to serve in an environment that is often over looked and under appreciated. Amazing guys.
So much of who I am and how I have grown I owe to the man in the upper right of this picture, Pastor Jed Walker. His love for the Lord is unparalleled and he uses that paired with his intellect to spearhead the Next Internship program at Milestone, where he trains men and women to be leaders in this world, strong in their faith, and aware of their giftings. I cannot even begin to explain how much I learned in the year I was under his discipleship.
All of these things I have shown you here are not things I have gained on my own merit. This is a life that was freely given by our wonderful Heavenly Father, an abundant life with the my church home, through my church. This one just happens to carry the name Milestone.
You see, AIM has a hidden agenda a midst their World Race program, and I think alot of people who are not directly involved miss it. While their direct goal is to send people to proclaim the gospel and love the nations, they have a powerful, seemingly hidden indirect goal. That is to take young american Christians out of their comfort zones and put them in an environment where for a year straight they have to radically depend on God. To show them that there is more to life than the 9-5, not that that’s inherently bad, and to give them a glimpse of Gods heart for the world. THEN, yes only then, after their lives have been rocked, after they have radically lived in the presence of our Lord for 11 months, then, they go home back to their churches and friends and family, and reciprocate what God showed them. Thus, empowering many people of the Local Church to be who God has called them to be. So, in my mind, AIM is all about the Local Church. Thats why I must go.
I have a heart for Missions, yes. To love the lost and broken and somehow ease a small part of the injustice in this world. But I say again, this worlds hope is the Church, and Jesus’ love spread through His church. My prayer is that after the race I can somehow be apart of Missions birthed through Milestone. Yes I am leaving for 11 months, yes it is exciting and scary and many other things all rolled up into one; but the thing I am most excited about is to come home, back to my family, back to Keller Texas where I know God will place me for a long while after the Race, and to share and reciprocate the knowledge, wisdom and life change that God has shown me. To Come back to my Home at Milestone.
