Have you ever had one of those moments where you just feel
Gods presence? When you get goose bumps, and everything in the world makes
perfect sense for a short period of time and you are so overwhelmed with an
indescribable joy that can’t be attained by any other source, but God? I call
these Jesus Highs, the closest thing to euphoria I will ever experience on
earth, and I live for these moments.
The first time I’ve ever felt this way was at a Young Life
camp called Windy Gap. It was the first time that I felt God speak to me and
tell me that I needed to change things around and start living to be more like
him. As a result I started going to
young life youth groups on a regular basis. I went to camps every summer,
Crooked Creek in Colorado, Timberwolf in northern Michigan (shout out to all of
my cabin girls/cabin times throughout the years and the amazing talks we had)
and I was on constant search for another Jesus high. I knew that I needed to
change my life around, but I wanted proof, and lots of it.
I don’t get Jesus highs on a regular basis, but they are
what keep me motivated, and they happen in a variety of ways, like when ironic
situations occur that have no explanation other than Gods craftiness. Or when
you see the same person 4 days in a row at random locations, and you know that
God is telling you to speak to them. Or in nature, when everything falls
perfectly into place and it’s impossible to think that there wasn’t some sort
of ingenious artist behind it.
God has done that for us this month. Normally we are
assigned a country, a church, and a ministry, but this month, we had to figure
that out ourselves, as a team of 7. For some reason we all felt called to a
hostel in Johannesburg, where we figured we could work with the random people
that come and go, and possibly help out around the hostel as well, with any
landscaping, cleaning, etc. if needed. When we got to the hostel, the owner
Steve, soon informed us that they were in danger of losing the hostel due to
financial crisis. He needed to find a way to pick up the business in creative
ways, and said that we couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. We have been
handing out flyers, fixing up the hostel, painting, etc. and after a weeks
worth of time, he said that the amount of calls they were receiving were 30
times higher than they were before we got there. Not only that, but we were able
to start a prayer meeting every morning that anyone is welcome to, and it’s
amazing to see the random people that join and how they are affected by it.
Steve was very touched by the prayer meeting, and said that he was inspired to
treat his workers with more thanks instead of more demand.
The fact that we randomly chose this hostel and the fact
that we were desperately needed at this time is confirmation that we were
supposed to be here, and that God is speaking through it, once again.
Today in Church, I was given the quote, “If you always do
what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
If you’re looking for a deeper relationship with Christ, how
do you expect that to happen if you keep doing what you’ve always done? I
challenge everyone (including myself) to push further, maybe give up something
that you know isn’t healthy, read more of God’s word than you usually do, pray
more than you usually pray. God will speak if we are willing to listen.
Sometimes that’s hard to do when the distractions of life get in the way; when
we become so centered on our next accomplishments. I’ve never been a fan of society’s
cookie cutter life plan. Actually, let me rephrase that. I do believe in
graduating high school moving onto college, getting a real job, getting married,
and having children, because that’s what I want for myself someday. I don’t
however, believe in the orderly fashion. If we are so focused on order, and
what is “supposed” to happen, and what we want for ourselves, we might miss out
on what God wants for us, and what God is telling us to do.
Isaiah 55:7-9 Look it up J
