God's Provision

"So I tell you, don't worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.  Look at the birds in the air. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. And you know that you are worth much more than the birds."  --Matthew 6:25-26 (NCV)

Community--The sound of a late 80’s cheesy electric guitar with a chorus effect pedal

i am a tool

Well it’s true I am a tool.  Hopefully not by worldly standards but by God’s measurement.  I what Jesus says in the book of Matthew about the harvest.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of 

the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  -Matthew 9:37-38

I had a realization a few weeks ago.  I was downtown on a Friday night to share Jesus with people who were clubbing.  I was able to witness to a few people and continue to build friendships with familiar faces.  That Friday was unique because there was a high school dance type thing to raise money for some sort of recycling program or solar panels.  This was held in a club Epic on 5^th street and 2nd Ave.  The dance got over at 12 a.m. and soon after hundreds of high schoolers flooded the streets.  This was a crazy sight to see because kids aging from 14 to 18 were dressed far more inappropriate than people who normally are downtown Fridays.   Beside this there was just something different about this Friday night than any other.  When I go evangelize I enjoy having a partner for support.  This particular Friday night I couldn’t find anyone to go with me so I hit the streets alone.

The realization I had was that I could be one of the only professing Christians amongst thousands of non-believers.  This is the reason why I said I am a tool.  The point of this entire experience is this: It’s not your ability that counts; it’s your availability.

Around 12:30 my brain was satisfied with the job I had done but that’s not what God had for me.  I felt like God was telling me that He needed to use me more.  For the next 20 minutes or so I just walked around praying.  

I believe that spiritual gifts are alive and present in the modern church today.  I don’t believe they were just for the apostle Paul or Peter to use but they can be used by Christians today, given by the Holy Spirit.  I say this because before I started walking back to NCU I had a vision.  I saw I was going to talk to a woman somehow with blond hair outside of the center of downtown.  A vision is like in the TV show LOST where in an episode Desmond kept seeing into the future that Charlie was going to die so he saved him.   I started walking back and about half way there was this couple that was following me.  I was walking slower than them so they eventually passed me.  A few blocks later I caught up with them next to HCMC hospital.  As soon as I realized that the woman had blond hair they stopped me and asked me for directions to a hotel.  They were from Iowa and were up in the Cities for a graduation party.  I told them where to go and I simply said God Bless you guys, have a good night.  I never said the word Jesus to them all I said was God Bless.  I really felt like this was all that was needed to be said, that I could trust God to do a good work in her and bring it to completion. 

There really isn’t any glamour to this story.  I didn’t lead anyone to Christ as far as I know and I didn’t even have as many conversations as I normally have.  What I think happened to this blond haired women was all she needed to hear was God Bless.  She could have been praying to God to reveal Himself to her at 1:15 a.m. and because I was a tool available for use, God used me and I obeyed. 

What I want you to take from this simple story is if you are available for use God will use you.  You don’t have to know the Bible back and forth or be majoring in Evangelism for God to use you.  If you are like me and happen to ever be amongst thousands of non-believers, trust me, God will use you.  He will use you in the workplace, in the classroom, on the light rail, or wherever.  You just have to be available for use.  So if you ever feel a tug on your heart to go talk to that coworker or acquaintance or even offer prayer for them just do it.  You may feel like you don’t know what to say or didn’t pray fluently like your pastor does, God will use whatever you give Him.  Are you available for God to use you?

It’s not your ability that counts; it’s your availability.

God Bless!

an explanation of the background picture

So this is my first attempt EVER at writing a blog or journaling or anything outside of my classes in English.  I want to let you know that i am a horrible writer and have always been bad at writing going all the way back to elementary school.  I am a fan of blogs but what has held me back from blogging is my lack of english skills so i just never got into blogging or journaling.  But now i am at the point where i just don't care to share my horrible lack of grammar and spelling skills and i pray that through the blogging process my skills in writing and grammar will improve.  So yeah, bare with me as i write my thoughts down n junk.

The blog background picture is from a bridge near downtown Toronto, Ontario.  The bridge spans a small stream and a highway underneath and is a viaduct with cars on the top and the subway below.  The bridge is named the Prince Edward Viaduct and is on Bloor Street East near the Riverdale Neighborhood.  In April of 2007 around 33 people my youth group from Southridge Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, MI went to Toronto as part of an inner city missions trip working with Center For Student Missions, CSM for short.  The first night in Toronto the CSM staff took us on a driving prayer tour of the city.  The tour was to educate us on the needs of the city and what God was up there.  About mid way through the tour we turned onto the Prince Edward Viaduct.  There is something interesting about the Viaduct.  On each side there are these steel rods that go off in an angle.  I noticed this and thought to myself, what is up with this.  Right after this thought our tour guide explained the steel rods.  He said that these steel rods as here as a suicide barrier to stop people from jumping off the bridge.

Luminous Veil
The name for all of the steel rods are called the Luminous Veil.  Before completion of the the Veil in 2003, the bridge averaged a suicide ever 22 days.  The Veil cost the city roughly 5.5 million Canadian dollars to construct and in the time the Veil was being constructed until completion there were an estimated 60 suicides.  The Veil was created to stop suicides but a report in 2010 stated that suicides by jumping has not decreased at all.  


At at least one end of the bridge there is what looks to be an ordinary telephone booth but it is actually a suicide/crisis hotline.  In the summer of 2008 i was able to go back and intern with CSM for two weeks. The last night off the internship i had a chance to walk across the bridge.  It was dark when the team got off the subway.  We approached the bridged and walked past the suicide hotline.  We started walking across the bridge and stopped in the middle to look at the city.  There is an amazing view of the city from  the bridge.  Then i went up to the steel rods and placed my hands on them and looked over the side to the highway below.  It was at this moment when i was able to glimpse what so many people saw right before they jumped.  The though that came into my mind at this point was where is the Church.  How could there be so many people ending their lives because they are so sad, depressed, and confused? Where is the Church? Where is Jesus?

This is a very sad story but i will never forget touching those steel rods and looking over that bridge.  This is a big reason why i am called to be a missionary someday to Toronto.  I want to give the city Hope that only comes through Jesus.  It was 5 years ago yesterday that i gave my life to Jesus and i found hope.  So this story is just part of my life journey and i have no idea when i will get there but i know i will someday.

If you are sad, lonely, depressed, and need hope in your life, turn to Jesus.  If you are skeptical that God really exists and cares about you, i just want to share with you a passage from the Bible.  In the book of Jeremiah in the 29th chapter, 13th verse it says this: "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  So what this is saying is if you don't even believe in God, search for him and you will find him.  If you draw near to him He will draw near to you.


I really appreciate you reading my first blog post ever.  I would love it if you would leave a comment and i really hope this is a blessing to you.

Test Blog

Just testing out this blog thingy.