so we are nearing the end of our 5th month which means that we are closing in on the halfway point. it feels like only yesterday that i was clueless in mexico. one day i was rather homesick so i started thinking about all the things i miss back in america. it is always the small things that hook me. i miss having breakfast or making the starbucks run in the middle of my day with jon b. i miss calling smith and teasing him about paige the rage (insider info). i miss men like Vippy Epstein and Len Lenon giving me incredible Godly counsel as they help usher me down paths they have already been down. i miss seasons as by in large it has been perpetual summer everywhere i have been so far. i miss college football on saturdays and my beloved Dallas Cowboys on sunday. i miss having transportation where i have all the space i can possibly want. i miss having a kitchen where i can cook. i miss my french press and the best coffee in the world available all the time. i miss having a place that is all my own. i miss calling my mom and talking about nothing in general. i miss when my mom calls me with my niece and sings on my phone. i miss talking history with my dad (we both love it). i miss calling my brother by his pet name. i miss working with the youth at my church that i worked with for over 6 years and some of the incredible leaders that i served alongside with (carol, julie, doug, karen…) i will miss the holidays (thanksgiving, christmas and new years!) i am sure that there is more but it seems that i really miss a lot but every coin has two sides and this is no different. so there are things that i dont miss.
i dont miss having a job (or a normal one at that) where i feel like programmed robot more than an actual human. i dont miss schedules and routine. i dont miss doing a little for the kingdom but telling myself that it is enough. i dont miss sitting on the sidelines pretending that i am in the game while the real race that Christ has called me to leaves me sitting at the starting point. i dont miss being comfortable. i dont miss settling for the status quo. i dont miss being average. i dont miss being weak. i dont miss not being challenged. i dont miss not being empowered to do His work. i dont miss not living by faith. i dont miss having a limited perspective. i dont miss watching the world go by and not reaching out. i dont miss being lazy. i could probably go on for a while. God has been working me over the entire trip but in the last few weeks He has been really been affirming things in me that i think i was always afraid to admit or use. i remember at our initial training, Seth (the co-founder of AIM, along with God and his wife) said that i was like an onion. he meant that God was going to peel the layers away until the real zach was found underneath. i know that i am really starting to see those layers burn off. as paul states in ephesians “wake up o sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” andrew shearman puts it this way “rise up man of God!!!!!!” God does not call us to be average. when has average ever been good enough?? God calls us to move mountains and i believe that mountains are going to move!!
so i will challenge myself and others who feel that the way they impact the world for Christ is good enough. RISE UP MEN AND WOMEN OF GOD!!!!!!!!!! some one needs to see Jesus today. will they see Him in me? will they see Him in you?? meditate on ephesians 5:14
