I LEAVE IN 17 DAYS!!! Holy crap! It’s getting real! And I can’t freaking wait!
Since I have been back from training camp last month, all I have been able to think about is leaving and starting on this amazing journey that God has for me this next year. I haven’t really thought about much else until last weekend. See, as most of you know, I am the oldest of 9 kids and I have 2 little sisters that are almost 3 and almost 5. They have me wrapped around the finger. When I was living away from home, I talked to them at least 4 times a week over the phone or via facetime. I love them to death. Missing them was always in the back of my mind after committing to the race, but I didn’t think about it a whole lot. But last weekend, together as a family we went to the mall and went to Build-A-Bear Workshop. We had the 2 little girls each build a bear and I got to put a voice recording in each of them basically saying how much I love them and am going to miss them. That’s when it hit me. I was going to have to say goodbye soon knowing that I was only going to be able to talk to them once or twice a month if i’m lucky. I started tearing up inside a little bit. That’s going to be really hard, especially knowing that they don’t fully understand why their Andrew is not there. I had to tell myself though, that it’s okay, because if they did fully understand, I know they would support it 110% because they love Jesus and want others to know about Jesus. And that is a beautiful thing and I can’t wait to share stories with them about what Jesus did.
This entire summer I feel like God has been teaching me two things, trust and He is provider. The entire summer I always had just enough to pay rent and put food on the table, but since i’ve been back from training camp, I have struggled to find work. I had no idea how I was going to be able to pay my last months rent in Nashville. I started to worry a little bit, but God was like “Andrew, I got you!” and provided some last minute work that was just enough to pay rent. Praise the Lord. But yet again, I started to worry again as I had a decent sized credit card bill due to some unexpected expenses that I had to pay off. I was moving home for the last month and had no idea how that was going to happen, but yet again, God was teaching me that ‘provider’ is in His name. And since being home, He’s provided me with some temporary work through a family friend that will be enough to pay off the credit card bill. Again, PRAISE THE LORD! I tell ya, continue to seek Him daily with your every need and He will provide.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:25-34
The last thing I want to share with you is about what God has created in me this last month. First, to give a little back story, when I was 15, I felt God place a call of ministry on my life. At that time, he instilled a passion in me for the next generation and so I worked on chasing after that calling and passion. I worked, volunteered, and did internships that trained me in these things. I studied Youth Ministry and Recreation and Sports Ministry in college. I became a interim youth pastor and did that for a year and a half, which was the most influential and best year of my life. When that ended, I was set on finding another youth pastor job. However, during that search for a new youth pastor job, I felt God calling me to do this 11 month mission trip called the World Race. By far the scariest ‘yes God’ of my life, but I was excited. Going into it, I had the mindset that this is just going to be a quick, year long season, and I would take everything that God taught me back to being a youth pastor in the states. I took that thought process into training camp. Little did I know what God would show me during training camp. As you have probably read in my last blog post, I Am A Sword, you saw that God freed me from something I was struggling with and some other things he taught me. During training camp the Lord also instilled in me a passion and fire for Him that I have never felt before. I went into training camp feeling like I was the closest I have ever been to God in my walk with Him. I left training camp on a whole new level. I left with a fire bursting at the seams ready to go and ready to know Him on an even deeper level. I still have that fire and am counting down the days to share that with others around the world.
It was also during training camp that I feel like God has shifted the direction of my calling of ministry. That missions is the new long term season that God has for me, that there is a good chance that when I get back from this trip, that it won’t be long before I am gone again. Now, I have no idea what exactly that looks like, but whatever it is, I am 100% percent okay with that. That this trip is just the beginning to something far bigger and greater than myself. It’s terrifyingly exciting! And knowing that some of my squad mates feel similar things about themselves, makes it even more exciting. I am so ready to live recklessly for God!
“I have one desire now – to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.” -Elisabeth Elliot
With Much Love,
Andrew
Prayer Requests:
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Would you please pray for me and my squad as we prepare to say goodbye to our families.
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Would you please pray for some of my squad mates as they have some injuries and illnesses that need to be healed before we leave.
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For God’s hedge of protection around us all.
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That God would continue to financially provide for us all.
