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This month has been an amazing time of coming to a much greater understanding of God and Francis Chan has been a huge influence in that. I had never heard of Francis Chan till a month before The World Race but from the first moment of hearing his message and his authentic honest delivery my eyes fill with tears over the connection that is within my heart. Even today I can barely listen to him without such a deep connection to his message that I find myself becoming overwhelmed with the truth I am listening to. Along with Francis Chan I have been revisiting some extremely powerful music by Keith Green. Keith Green, from the beginning of my Christian walk, has been an amazing inspiration to true Christian living. His life, lyrics, and music cut deep within my heart and continually expose my growing need for Christ. Both of these men know what it is to truly love Christ and REALLY walk out this faith I so casually profess. This month I also listened to K.P. Yohannan’s book, “Revolution in World Missions,” and I am currently listening to John Piper’s book, “Desiring God”.
Between all of these incredible men I have grown tremendously in my understanding of our majestic God. I have been reawakened to my need to focus on things that are eternal and my awareness of my lack of REALLY believing everything scripture teaches us.
“We believe those passages we actually act upon – Rick Warrain”
While this quote it’s extremely difficult to hear if our actions don’t line up with what we say, I this has been true for me, I would have to agree with the truth of this quote. My heart continues to be stirred within me regarding my shortcomings in REALLY loving God and TRULLY walking out this faith. I don’t say this in a self-condemning way or with feeling of guilt or shame but rather from an intense hunger for authenticity in my life. Authenticity, I have discovered over the past year, is something I highly value as a quality I always want to demonstrate in my life. So when I say a “hunger of authenticity” what I mean is that I want everything I am to be in alignment with the desires within me to be found a faithful servant on that final day when I stand before God.
My time her in Romania has been great (more to come on that soon…next blog), and I am currently in transient on my way to Moldova. I can’t believe this amazing adventure is coming to an end. While I am ready, and excited, I also have a lot of reservations to coming back to a culture where everything seems to be focused on all the wrong things. I don’t want to lose sight of things that are eternal. I am not trying to bash the American culture, God has placed me in this culture for this time so I know I am thankful, but I think most of us would admit that so much is focused on all the wrong things. The list could be endless of “good” thing that desire to pull us away from things that really matter, eternal things. I don’t calm to have the answers but I just know that I want to love God and REALLY walk out this faith I profess. I think this is one of the greatest reasons I admire Francis Chan so much. You can tell he does not have all the answers, and he is very real with his struggles in walking out this faith , but yet he stays committed and its demonstrated in his ACTIONS.
My heart so desires to walk true in all I do. Please keep me in your prays as I this chapter of my life is coming to an end and I am seeking His direction for the next steps I need to take. Pray that I can love Him with EVERYTHING I am and stay true to who He has called me to be.
Love you all and see you VERY soon
Serving Him
Billy
