...for you are greatly beloved... - Daniel 9:23
The random ramblings of a pretty awesome and humble guy and his life's updates...stay tuned...read...give...and support the efforts of someone who is going to change the world through much more than just amazing blogging!
While praying for America today the Lord gave me three passages of scripture.
Firstly: Psalm 50:21 "These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you." Secondly: the book of Haggai. Thirdly: the story of the prodigal son.
I don’t think it will ever matter where I live, America is my home. There’s just something about the place of my birth that I can’t get away from. I can’t forget the legacy that our founding fathers have left behind and the blessing the Lord has poured out onto my life through this country founded in God’s name.
This said, there’s no other place that can invoke such an emotion in me then when I hear about something happening in America or when I see a new spiritual down turn of my country.
I'm often amazed at just how good God is...honestly no reason in particular, though I could name many. He's just so loving, so patient and so good to me. His mercies have meant so much to me. I mean, I was lost, I hated Him and was literally His enemy and yet He loved so much that He made a way, even though it took being wrapped in human flesh and being sacrificed on a cross...no greater love!
Even right now, I'm just amazed at Him. How can words ever be put together to describe this One? It's impossible for me to even attempt to do, but nonetheless, I have to say that He's so good, so awesome, so amazing, so wonderful, so loving...there is none like Him in the Heaven, on the earth or under the earth.
Thank You Lord for Your love for me. May my life reflect Your love to a lost and dyeing world. A world that needs You...
I truly am so blessed! After a full day of church and hanging out with people, I’m pretty tired. My emotions are all over the place as I think about everything that God has done in my life. Not only did He die and forgive me of all of my sins, but He is continually so gracious to me…everyday He shows me His powerfully intimate love…
So over the last couple of weeks, as a community, we’ve been handing out these Easter booklets that we had printed up, “The Real Story of Easter.” Today we had numerous people who came because of them and I’m very excited about everything the Lord is doing and is going to continue to do.
I look at certain people in our community and am so challenged and proud to be a part of such a place like this. The level of devotion and dedication to Jesus and to our community is truly unlike much of what I’ve seen growing up.
So as much as I miss being home, being with my family and the friends that I have grown up with; I am so encouraged being here and having the opportunity to impact amazing people who are hungry for Him.
Pray your Resurrection Day is blessed; mine definitely was!
Resurrection Sunday. We say these words, but so often have so little appreciation for what they mean. This is the day we acknowledge that Jesus Christ of Nazareth rose from the dead. The day that death was finally defeated… Death where is your victory…Grave where is your sting? Not only did He come bounding forth, but He has promised us this same victory. We have a hope and an assurance of this promise, not because we’re anything special and not because we deserve it, but because of His love and grace and because He was the forerunner of this…He claimed victory and has proclaimed victory for His own…Thank You Jesus!
Please be aware: About the fifth paragraph and down you’re reading pretty much my raw mind processes and thoughts. It’s a bit jumpy, but at the moment it’s all that I can really write. There might be a more condensed version later, but for now this is what came out…
Well, the last 24 hours have been some of the most “adventurous” since being in China…sadly they were of the more “unfortunate adventures” versus the exciting kind.
Let’s start with yesterday morning…March 28th, I woke up like any normal morning. I did my morning routine and started getting ready to go give an English lesson to a guy, Allen, that I teach. I was planning and prepared just to be out the whole day until church that night. So I had told Momma D (Denise) that I wasn’t gonna be heading back this way and so food wouldn’t need to be prepared for me for lunch or dinner. Well, turns out after giving my English lesson, Allen volunteers to drive me home. I think, why not, save myself some money from having to buy dinner, so I headed back this way. I hang out for the day, do some work and watch Momma D and Hannah plant some flowers outside of my window.
I wrote this short story a couple of days ago. It's based off of an image that came to my mind at the last One Thing conference while Mike Bickle was talking about Revelation 2-3.
It was a cold snowy night and I was high up in the mountains safely inside of my cabin. The fire was blazing inside of the little stone fireplace that was nestled up against the wooden wall and I could feel its warmth against my face and the blanket that was covering me as I sat contentedly in my good ‘ole “lazy chair.” I could hear the wind blowing outside and was comforted by the thought of the secure construction of the cabin I had built with my own hands. It was my safety and refuge from the blizzard outside.
Well, I am currently sitting in an open period. Yesterday and today have been taken up so far by substitute teaching at an international school here in Dongguan called QSI. It's interesting...fun, but I don't think I could do it everyday, lol. I definitely think there are specific people who are teachers and those who are not.
Currently, as a sub, I'm pretty much following someone else's instructions and baby sitting, but at this moment I can't imagine having the responsibility of putting together a plan for a class to follow for their education. I'm sure I could learn it, but it's quite a scary prospect. If you stink as a teacher your kids aren't gonna learn what they need to learn and it's your fault. That's terrifying... Thankfully though, I don't have that responsibility in the 2 days I'm subbing. I follow instructions and give commands.
Life has been going well. Everyday I've been trying to push myself to experience more of God. I've been reading through a few different books, one of them: Practicing the Presence by Brother Lawrence which has been an amazing read. Seeing the life and instructions of a man who makes his daily goal to experience God in every moment. Not straining, but simply trusting and remembering Him in everything. In work...in prayer...in travel...in every single moment to allow God to be at the focus of your mind. Not putting Him off to just dedicated times of prayer and meditation, though those shouldn't be neglected, but delighting in Him in every moment of every day. It's a challenging thought, but an amazing one.
I love Brother Lawrence's practical insight into this practice. Realizing that we're often busy and our minds often wonder, but training ourselves in every activity to practice His Presence. Then when our minds do wonder, not getting frustrated in ourselves, but simply repenting of our minds departure and immediately returning our thoughts to Him.
I'm encouraged from His heart in this. He's not doing it out of legalism, but out of His love for the Lord and out of the realization that there is nothing better in this life than experiencing Him.
After Friday night service I went out to dinner with some guys that I met here. We went to some Italian restaurant which was pretty good. The server was quite gracious to us, as they were like 15 minutes from closing for the night and really weren’t taking any more orders.
Saturday morning was filled with helping a new friend, Josh, with some R&D for some products that his company makes here in China. We were comparing different materials and their stretchiness and then testing out the comfort of some other products.
So the last few days have been quite active. Friday night I spoke at church. This was the first time speaking here this time, so I was definitely still trying to get used to speaking with an interpreter and their whole set up. I’m very used to speaking in the youth group at NBCF which doesn’t require an interpreter or a microphone. So I felt a little restricted having a corded microphone I was using. I’m kind of a mover when I speak...I walk around, throw my hands in the air…and do all sorts of crazy things that a microphone just gets in the way of…oh well :)
Well, let’s see now. I've been here for about 5 days so far and things are going pretty well. I think I’ve pretty much adjusted now to the time zone and am quite thankful for that. Jet lag is not a fun thing to go through.
I have some kind of sinus infection nonsense that I haven’t been able to shake yet. Like it’s mostly in the morning now and I really think it’s due to all of the cool air I’m breathing through the night. The temperature seems to be pretty similar to Florida this time of year, actually a little warmer, but the air itself just feels different. Also, there’s really no “climate control” where I’m living, so breathing in the cool air through the night is giving me some serious sinus problems.
Who Is Me?
Hey, I'm Daniel.
Hey Daniel, what's with the website name? Well...there's actually a story behind it, and as with all good stories...it's definitely better if you were there...so, a couple of years ago I was being introduced to someone and well it went something like this...
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