God is in Control...

Today has been a great day. It has been a time of rest and a time to unwind from a busy, busy week. It has been a time to reconnect with friends and family, some of whom I have not spoken to in a long while. I feel it is important to reconnect every now and then. True friends are hard to come by and I think we should be intentional about checking in with each other every now and then. I know we all get busy and don’t find time to talk to those who are important to us, or we feel that we are such good friends with people that we don’t need to encourage one another or just call and say hello. I’m trying to be intentional about that, though I must admit I not as good as I seem to be writing this. For those of you that I have not talked to in a while, I think about you every now and then and I’m praying for each of you as I run across your name or a special memory or two. Know that you are missed and you are loved.

I find myself wanting to journal during the week, but it is virtually impossible because of the schedule that we are all keeping on a YouthWorks site. We get up at 6:30am at the latest and get down sleeping around 11:30-12:00 every night. This happens Monday through Friday, by the time Saturday roles around we are all exhausted. Ministry happens all during the day and I’m very thankful for the opportunity that God has given to me to be able to minister to this community of Cortez. Programming with the participating youth groups has been going on for just a week now, but the lives of the community members that they have touch will last a life time.

This past week there were three youth groups that came from Arizona, Nebraska, and Iowa, for a total of 38 participants. The gelled right off the bat and by the end of the week were hard pressed to say goodbye to each other. They served along side each other, encouraged each other, served each other, and prayed for each other. It was a great week in all aspects. The community members were encouraged and strengthen in their faith.

Anna is doing a great job organizing the Kids Club down at Evangel. I believe the first day the kids club staff had like 12 kids from ages 5-10 and by the end of the week they had as many as 35 kids show up. What a great testimony of faith and perseverance on not only Anna part but on the youth groups that took on the responsibility to help promote and gather the kids. My prayer is that these numbers will only continue to grow and their will be many, many more youngsters that will show up for kids club in the coming weeks.

I couldn’t ask for a better start to work projects than what I had this past week. The groups were able to minister to four couples not only by painting their houses, but also by building relationships with the homeowners and the children in the neighborhood. It was so sweet to see how the kids in the trailer parks just flocked to the youth as they jumped out of their vans to start painting houses. I believe I learned a great lesson that day when I realized that ministry is just not doing the physical labor of painting a house, ministry also happens on a relational level as these young people showed the love and grace of Christ this week. Sure painting houses is what gets us in the door, but ministry is so much more. It is encouraging one another and lifting each other up to a higher place. I believed this was done this week with each of these ministry sites and this is just the tip of iceberg. I don’t believe everything in this county will be solved by the end of the summer, but I do believe that these youth groups that are coming here to serve this summer will make a tremendous impact on this community and Cortez will be a better place, both in a spiritual sense and a physical sense at the end of the summer. I’m thanking God for this last youth group and praying for the youth groups yet to come in the next 7 weeks. God has a plan and I’m very excited to see what that plan is and how it will transpire.

The Lord placed me in a location at the right time and I’m so very thankful that He did. I was there to encourage a young lady and to be present when the Lord grabbed a hold of her life and changed the outlook on her life. It was God ordained because I was the last staff person out of the fellowship hall when another young lady came in crying about a conversation happening in her church group time. I was in the midst of talking to her, when this other young lady came running in with tears in her eyes exclaiming that she could feel Him taking her sins away. She fell down at the table and soon afterwards her friend where there to encourage her as she gave her life over to Christ. I didn’t do anything but be in presence of the one who does it all and being obedient to what He is trying to tell me. I’m very thankful that He allowed me to be witness to his transforming presence in these young ladies lives.

Ministry happens when we are available to Him to do things through us to minister to others. Whether it be on the job site, in the kids club activities, on the evening activities, in the kitchen, or even just talking to an individual, Christ works through our inabilities and our conversations to lift up those who are hurting and don’t know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus. Christ works through us to encourage others who are on the striving to be more like Him every day. We are all vessels to spread the Good News of Christ. It doesn’t matter how young we are or how old we are. Christ wants to use us in a powerful way.