6 blogs. 6 nights. make-up for last night. March Madness.

I was watching the Duke, Arizona game with my good buddy Patrick Yankey last night.  After the Dukies got beat, I was so happy/ecstatic/joyful/crazy that I tired myself out and couldn't keep my eyes open after the game.  So that is why you got such a short blog and why I am going to make it up to you with a somewhat personal blog.

March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year because of college basketball going through the tournament and baseball season is starting to get in full swing.  Even though I see the Christian Laettner shot about a thousand times and the Cats give me a heart attack during every game I still pull through and see March as one of the best.  I think the word Madness really describes how March really is in the sports world.  We see so many upsets during that month that all it brings is madness.  History is made almost every day that a game is on.  It is full with a bunch of heart breaks but on the other end it can be one of the most joyful times of the year.  With March Madness literally going on in the sports world and serving this week at the homeless shelter my life has been somewhat of madness but also with another thing going on that I feel lead into sharing with you.

Have you been put into a situation that you have asked someone for trust?  Not just a little trust, but with a whole lot of trust that you are not for sure they can give you?  Here recently, I have found myself in that situation and at times I cry out to God asking "Why am I in this situation?"  I don't know if you personally have been in the same situation that I am in.  But I can almost promise that if you haven't, you have been in a very similar situation leading to the same prayer, "Why God?!"  While looking up the definition of the word "trust" I see two definitions that I really like.

Trust:

 -Reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.

 -Confident expectation of something; hope.

  

Looking at those two definitions, I have hoped and prayed for the longest time that I was able to receive that during the time that I needed it the most.  Whether or not I got it, I am not for sure but I have been able to link the word "trust" to another word that has brought me comfort through this madness.  The word I am referring to is "faith".

Faith:

-confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

-belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion.

-strong or unshakeable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence.  

-trust in God and in his actions and promises.

If you ask me about linking these two words, I would answer by saying that in order to have faith you must have trust and vice-versa.  Looking at the Christian faith we see that it all relies on faith and trust.  We trust that God is real, that Jesus came to this earth in human form and died on a cross for our sins so that we may live and have eternal life through the Holy Spirit.  The big kicker about it all is that we can not physically see God with our own two eyes which brings in the word faith.  Bringing it down to earth, I feel that in our relationships with others and especially those that have "til death do us part" defining them, Faith and Trust play the key role.  I think what is beautiful in our world is when faith and trust come together in the most crucial times.  What is ugly and I personally cant stand and hate, is when people take advantage of the trust and faith that you have in them and make bad decisions thinking they can keep it a secret.  So, why must you go through situations where you put trust and faith in someone or something?  Why would God put you in situations dealing with trust and faith when the world tells you not to trust but deep down inside you feel that you should?  There can be a lot of doubt in this and a lot and I mean A LOT of stress and heart ache when having to put trust and faith into someone.  You may be wondering how I am going to tie in finding comfort through those two words, well in James 1 verses 2-4 you find your answer:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  -James 1:2-4

Right off the bat I like how verse two starts out, "consider it pure joy" as if James when writing this knew that it is very hard at times to put trust and faith into someone or something to happen especially when you are not there to see it.  His reasoning's of why to consider it joy is even better.  Verse three, he mentions that the testing of faith produces perseverance.  That when you go through "trials of many kinds" stick with it and keep your faith because it produces your perseverance which leads to your maturing and being complete.  I know he is more than likely referring this with Godly things, but when he mentions trials of many kinds, I also put in the worldly things that you put your trust in.  Yes, there are times that trust can be broken and tear someone apart but there are also times that trust and faith can strengthen relationships and make them complete and not lack anything.  When it is all said and done, it can all lead to the third definition of faith, "strong or unshakeable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence."  To receive that strong/unshakeable belief, we must go through times that call for the full trust and faith. 

-JDB, Go Cats!

 

6 blogs. 6 nights. last night.

Duke lost.

Go Cats.

'nuff said for tonight.

-JDB

6 blogs. 6 nights. night 5.

Tonight is the last night that will be spent in Louisville.  Tomorrow comes and I will find myself traveling back to my home town of Danville.  If anyone has tried to get a hold of me throughout this week and haven't been able to reach me, I want to apologize but not really apologize because I have intentionally turned my phone off for the majority of the trip.  The reason for that was to take away many distractions that the world throws at me.  I was solely committed to serving the homeless and thinking about it all the time while being down here.  With that being said I take a lot away from this trip in Louisville serving the homeless.

John 3:30 hit me hard this week.  "He must become greater.  I must become less."  Looking at those 8 words has really transformed me this week.  God is our ROCK and our FORTRESS.  It is not us living in the world but rather Christ living through us.  I asked God to break my heart this week and he came through.  Speaking with the homeless last night on the street was amazing but today in the homeless shelter was even better.  I worked the storage closet today for 4 and half hours where I would check in and out bags that the homeless would bring in.  That developed many conversations.  One sticks out above the rest.  Talking to the last person of the day to check a bag in.  He was an older gentlemen from Tennessee and was a Veteran that served for the later part of the seventies into the early eighties.  I am not really for sure why he sticks out above the rest, but he mentioned that as long as his heart is beating than he is not giving up on his life.  I suddenly started feeling for the gentlemen.  After lunch was over, everyone that I was with decided to take a nap.  Only problem was, I couldn't sleep.  I was having a "backpack" kind of day (A backpack day is a day that I just have the urge to grab my backpack and start walking.  Where I go is not a question.  I just start walking).  As I walked downtown Louisville alone, it gave me the time to take in everything from this week.  I realized that the my problems don't come near to ANY of the things that the homeless encounter on a daily basis.  You may argue saying that they throw this on themselves and being homeless is what they deserve.  To some extent that could be a true statement.  But do you truthfully mean that?  Seriously?!  It is very sad when I hear that come out of someones mouth.  I see that as just an excuse not to help someone in need.  Either way you want to look at it, you need to realize that they are God's creation just as much as you are!  God molded you the same way that he molded everyone else in the world.  Just because you have money and feel in control about everything in the world doesn't make you more important than the 7 month pregnant women living on the street walking from shelter to shelter or the homeless Vietnam veteran who couldn't get back on solid ground because he was suffering from PTSD and can't find any help.  I am sure that you have heard it before but, these are people too!  Whether you see a homeless person on a daily basis or only see them when you go to big towns, you should keep them in your prayers.  They need it!  All they can get.  They are clay formed from our Gods hands also.

I loved every second here serving the Lord in Louisville.  As I go on, I am excited to see what God does with my life next and where I will be.  It is exciting!  Question is, are you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IduHRMRcy9A&feature=related

-JDB

6 blogs. 6 nights. night 4.

What is it about the homeless that breaks my heart?  While we all were walking downtown tonight after dinner I decided to hang out in the back by myself and throw the head phones in my ear to think just about that.  To my surprise, I couldn't come up with an answer...

Today was an early morning.  Waking up at 6 in the morning was a big change than what I am use to.  It was much harder because it seems that I can never get to bed at a decent hour knowing that I have to be up early in the morning.  Jeff Street was very busy today.  It seemed that homeless men and women were walking in and out one after another.  To my surprise, we got a little time off and Wyatt and I decided to walk around the neighborhood that is right across the street from the shelter.  While we were walking, it came as a surprise to myself on how well the homeless men and women can fit in with the rest of society.  These people are hurting deep down inside, they have no where to call home and all they have is what they can carry.  But yet, we still couldn't tell who was who.  It wasn't until tonight that we got to talk to some of the homeless.  If there is anything that gets out of this blog tonight, I would like for you to throw up prayer for all the homeless men and women but two especially:

1-Josh.  Walking up 4th street we ran into a guy who couldn't have been much older than myself.  He had a long sleeve shirt over his head and was looking for a light.  We got to spend some time with him and talk about his life.  He has been in Kentucky now for 5 months after coming up from Georgia.  His girlfriend kicked him out of her house in Georgia and he had no where to go.  He didn't mention how he got to Louisville but Wyatt and I did get to talk to him and help him out a little.  While talking to him, he said he hadn't ate all day and had no money in his pocket to get food.  Mentioning he would rather have a bag of chips than a light.

2-Paul.  This fella was an interesting character.  He had just been released from Jail.  He had served 8 years in the pen.  He talked a lot about his earlier years.  How he played basketball in high school and was an McDonalds All-American (I'm not going to lie, the dude looked like he could play).  He was 50 years old and all he could talk about was about Christ and becoming a new Christian.  Whether he was throwing us for a loop or not is not for I to judge but God above, but the guy knew his scripture.  He would refer to Paul in the bible a lot. 

There is a lot of hurt in these peoples hearts.  Just seeing how these people live their lives does it for me.  Prayer is really the best thing for them.  Giving them money is just a temporary fix to their problems that they already have.  Not saying giving them money is bad, if you feel lead to give someone homeless money than I say do it.  But what I have learned over the years with homeless people is getting them the needs is better than a dollar bill.  The need that they need above all else is Christ.  This goes for everyone.  If a billionaire in the USA living in a mansion with every make of car and a different pair of shoes for each day of the year is with out Christ, then him too is homeless.  Our home is not here on earth but rather in Heaven! 

Tomorrow is the last day that we have at Jeff Street, Pray for the Homeless and the two gentleman but also pray that God breaks us down as a group to where we have to lean on him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au3EGgISYMc

-JDB

6 blogs. 6 nights. night 3.

Tonight I feel lead to take this blog a little differently then normal.  Usually I would write about what I am feeling or what is on my mind.  Truth be told, I have had an emotional roller coaster kind of day of which these verses have found their way into my mind.  I would like to share them with you:

Ephesians 2:8-10:

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. 

Micah 6:8:

⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
   and to walk humbly with your God.  

Romans 8:11:

¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

Romans 8:31:

 ³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

While I was thinking about what to write about, my first thought was about Micah in the 6th chapter but just couldn't find the words to say.  So I decided to take a look in the study Bible just to see what the book of Micah is all about.  We all are familiar with Micah 6:8 which is an amazing verse but what I got out of Micah tonight is not a verse or anything in the book.  Its the meaning of the name Micah.  Which means "Who is like the Lord?"  With a name of a chapter like that, I believe it is time for me to pay closer attention to this book and not set it to the side because it is a small, 7 chapter book in the Old Testament.  The question I asked myself after reading that was, "am I taking in the whole Bible, cover to cover, or am I just taking in what I hear?"  Maybe we all should ask that simple question to ourselves...Fuel for thought.

-JDB

 

6 blogs. 6 nights. night 2.

On Friday night, Shaun and I decided that we were going to go camping.  We were both fed up with the world and one of the ways that we like to get out of the world is to go camping or go out doors somewhere to see the masterpiece of God.  To make it even better, we traveled an hour south and went to our old camp that we served at, Camp Caleb.  We had heard that it was supposed to rain off and on but nothing to bad.  Well, like usual the weatherman was wrong.

After we had been there for a couple of hours it had started to rain.  We decided that after it quit raining we would go put the tent up and prepare for what we wanted to do at night.  To make a long story short we never got to do anything that night but sit in the tent because it came a down pour.  After the rain had put Shaun to sleep, I was up listening to the rain pelt the tent and the thunder clap.  Honestly, we probably should have went to shelter that night with the amount of trees around us but we decided that would be our last resort and would do whatever it took to sleep outside.  To make it even better I didn't have my sleeping bag with me.  All I had was the clothes I was wearing and two blankets on the cold, hard ground of camp.  O wait, it gets even better.  For some reason if the poles are not lined up with the right line, then it will allow water to come in.  The water decided to come in right above my body and no where else in the tent.  I am sitting there freezing, wet and having troubles going to sleep.  There was a time during the night I couldn't tell if I was asleep or if I was awake and when the morning came, I am pretty sure that I slept maybe 2 hours of that night.  During that night it was different though.  While I was praying "God can you please let the rain die off a little so it won't leak in the tent and allow me to get some sleep?"  I felt like God had answered me back.  An answer that I wasn't prepared to hear.  "Jacob, you say you want to minister to the homeless.  You must realize what the homeless go through night in and night out.  What their life feels like." 

I know what I endured was only a night, but it was one of the most humbling things that could have ever happened to me at that moment.  With everything going on in the world that I am fighting with, God is there slapping me in the face saying "Jacob, you feel like the world is crashing down.  I'll give you a night of feeling homeless and lets see who really feels like the world is crashing down on them." 

Talking to a friend the other night, he mentioned that the homeless need a lot of prayer and they really do.  So I am asking you to please pray for the homeless.  While doing that, it would be awesome to keep some friends and I in your prayers.  Over the next 3 days we are going to travel to Louisville and minister to the homeless.  Don't pray that we have a good time in Louisville, but that God absolutely BREAKS our heart for what breaks his.

-JDB

6 blogs. 6 nights. night 1.

Here lately, I have had a lot of things that have been bottled up inside of me that I just haven't found the time or the right person to talk to them about.  Its not that I am being stubborn because I really get very excited to share this stuff with people but at times I feel that I share to much and then think that whats in my head could be stupid and not make sense.  So sometimes I just don't bother to share and possibly waste someones time.  Happens a lot to be honest and then I just express them on the blog.

Tonight there is two things that are on my mind.  The first thing I want to talk about is the other half of the last blog while the second is about what happened last night. I will only talk about the first one because its already 4:45 in the morning and I want everything to make sense.  Plus, 6 blogs in 6 nights!  It should be good, I have a lot on my mind!

(Tracking back to last weekend)

I had an amazing Saturday night at winter jam and wouldn't have wanted to spend that moment with anyone other than the ones that were sitting right there with me at the moment.  Through out the whole time I couldn't stop but to think about how God has really blessed me with those people (speaking of my family and Lindsay).  The first thing that came to my mind at winter jam was the concept of love.  The second is a couple of questions that I have asked myself over and over again for the past year and you may have asked the same:

"God, is this where I am supposed to be?" / "God, I am tired of fighting and feeling the same way.  Are you sure I am supposed to be doing this?" / "God, why am I going through this if someone could potentially get hurt through this?" / "GOD, WHY?!"

Over the past year I have found myself sitting in the same place, thinking the same things.  The only problem is, when I cry out to God and ask for answers...I get the same answers over and over again.  "Stay / Pursue / Fight / Stick with it."  Not that those answers aren't enough but I am impatient and I like to know things.  What helps with this is Faith.  Although we don't have the answers that we want, we have to realize that God does everything for the good.  Even though it may bring pain at the moment, God is going to guide you in the right path as long as you let him.  Two verses that I like to keep in the back of my mind when having a "question day" is 2 Corinthians 5:7 - "We live by Faith, not by sight." and Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  This is key, we must realize that God is not out to get us.  He is here to give us a future!  No matter the past!  When we realize that Gods watch is not synced with our watch, that is when we can put our Faith in full swing and let God have total control.  Fight and Pray through the rough times.  God is wanting to teach you something where you are right now or is using you in ways to further the Kingdom that you are blind to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgWOcYpHm0o

-JDB

Lets Express!

If there is one thing that I have learned about writing blogs, its the fact that I never know how to start out.  I always sit at the computer writing a sentence and then deleting it over and over again.  Usually I will get past that part of the blog and go on with the rest of it but tonight I don't have an opening sentence.  So, you get the paragraph that has no meaning what-so-ever.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend Winter Jam and I must say that if you have never been to Winter Jam you need to check it out.  Its basically 4 hours of straight worship with bands like David Crowder, Kutless, Newsboys, Newsong, Francesco Battistelli and Side Walk Prophets with speaker Tony Nolan.  Seriously, if you have enough money you should travel to the location that is nearest to you and worship with them!  It is awesome! 

Throughout the whole time it was going on, I had a few things that was racing through my mind.  One of which I will write about tonight and Lord willing will have the opportunity to write about the other sometime later this week.  One of the things that Winter Jam wants to install in people is an opportunity to be a servant in Christ by sponsoring a child that is under privileged compared to our standards.  I have seen this played out in many ways but one immediately came to mind.  When a Youth Pastor had sponsored a child for a year in the D.R. and the first week that I arrived there just so happened to be the week that he got the opportunity to meet him and spend the whole afternoon with him.  I wish words could describe but they just aren't enough.  After thinking about that memory of the D.R. I started to move my train of thought on the tracks of 1 John 3:17:

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?

I couldn't help but to think of the opportunities that we have in America.  We are Blessed.  We have the opportunity to go out and get a pack of shirts to wear under another shirt while there is Children in the world who have to wait for the next clothes drive so they can have a shirt to cover up their bare skin.  I know that is a little extreme, but it is true.  You may think that I am just referring  poor countries but truth is, there is a lot of hurt and need in our own back yard of America.  Someone may not need materials or have a lack of money but they need someone to express Christ's love to them.  Can we honestly say that we express Christ's love through the way we live 24/7 with our family, relationship, friends and this is a BIG one but our enemies or anyone who has hurt us?  I know I haven't, and I will jump out on a limb that may break to say that you may not have either.  With that being said, lets express.  From here on out I am going to use "lets express" as a way to refer to show Christ's love.  With that being said..."LETS EXPRESS" and let our reflection be Christ in EVERYTHING that we do!

-JDB