Summer, Summer, Summer Time

Well, the semester has ended and now I just await the final grades to be released and see how the class ended up. Although continually being online for class has kept me offline from blogging I have still been seeing God's hand move in and through my life. I recently did a series called "Untouchables" which was from Doug Fields out at Saddleback. I did some serious tweaking to make it applicable to my teens but what came out of it was some great discussion in small groups over topics like homosexuality, death, disabilities, and racism. Some tough topics that either dont get discussed or are not seen as popular to discuss. It has been very challenging for me as I have had to craft messages and questions and be honest with myself and my teens.

With in the past month I have read a book called the Kingdom Experiment that is available for purchase now and it was a very refreshing way to view the Beattitudes. I highly recommend picking up this book and reading it and make sure that you read with an open mind. Look for opportunities that will allow God to change your world. Make your faith an intentional one and enjoy the opportunity to be Jesus to someone.

Over the past few weeks I have found myself reading Isaiah 59, 60, and 61 over and over again. I have been amazed as God continues to reveal to me who I am in Him. What He has planned for me. Isaiah 60:1-2 states, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you." Imagine that. The very thing that we are to give back to God, glory, He is shining on us. He is taking it and allowing it to shine in our lives. Not by our doing but by His. I think what struck me so profoundly is that in the church there are those who are looking to do something for recognition. They want to be thanked and publicly recognized for what they do and receive the glory. Yet we are told time and time again that all glory is the Lords. We must not keep any of it but give all praise and adoration back the one who it is truly due. Then here comes the crazy part...He shines it on us anyway. Not so that we can say look at me, look at me but so we can be a part of what He is doing and we can point others to Him so much easier. Here we are so concerned about making sure the right person gets credit for what they do when really if we would just stop and give the credit to God he will shine on us even more. I guess the difficult thing here is to make sure that we (1) give the glory to God, (2) don't do it with the mindset of if I do this then I will get God's glory, (3) give God the glory and when He chooses to shine it upon us we again turn around and praise and thank Him for using us.

I am excited. I am longing for more of God in my own life and in the lives of my teens. I have just recently looked into the spiritual disciplines again and in doing so discovered a longing for more of God in my life and so I have determined that this summer is going to be a summer unlike any I have ever had. Even if nothing comes of it but I read and pray and God tells me "I love you" that will be all I need but I am committing to some things that I have to be honest I have not done in quite awhile and I am ready to once again experience depth that I have to see. It should be quite a faith journey and one that should be quite eventful in the experiences of God. Until the next time...

I am outie 5000,

Robb