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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 3/11/2010
 "All I am is all I have
And all, all I have to give, and I give it all to You"
- From "Alabaster Box", Julie Meyer
Over a month and what seems to be an eternity ago, I met with three of our instructors here at G42. That week was probably the most difficult, painful, and intense week I've had in life; the one thing that I clearly remember, though, was Andrew looking at me and saying, "If you choose to pour yourself out here during these six months and give of yourself to others, you will gain everything you came here for."
It's an ironic concept, isn't it? And yet beginning to cultivate pouring myself out to others has been an amazing experiment! A few weeks ago, both Summer and I felt like God was asking us to give the few hours we had together for the week to Him. Hard? Yeah. Yet that day was probably one of the best times we had together, and I don't think I could have planned an evening so amazing. We were able to pray for people on the beach, climb up into a tree and enjoy sharing what God did the past week, share Jesus with people throughout Torremolinos, and everything culminated with a completely unplanned dinner on the roof underneath the moonlight overlooking the city lights from our hilltop villa. Our time was amazing because He was flowing through us as we chose to give the best of what we had to Him... to others.
Jesus says in Acts 20:35, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." I think when we give of everything we have, when we give freely of the love that God has given us to others - especially when it's the best we've got, we receive the best of His love flowing through us. But if we just hold that love inside, we become dead. But giving allows the only love we've got - His love - to flow, and in turn we are made whole by giving.
The Costa del Sol, "Coast of the Sun", is a stretch of beach visible 1500 feet below the mountain Mijas sits on just six miles away. It's a popular tourist destination in Europe, and the streets and beaches are often filled with people from Germany and Great Britain. But underneath lies a world full of hurt, a world full of desperation. Prostitution is legal in Spain, and it's believed that this region of Spain has over 18,000 prostitutes, both trafficked, illegal, and legal. People come to this area from all over the world to run away in hopes that life will be different. Alcohol is cheap, hasish is easily available, and a blind eye is often turned to the illegal. I've met homeless from Chile, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, and Italy that have no vision for the future; they only have pain from the past. Many have been on the streets for over twenty years! These guys are tough, and the thing they long for the most - friendship - is the one thing few people offer. I've given money a few times, but most the time they just want someone to stand with them in the rain, listen to their stories, hear their hurt.
I chose to sit down over a month ago next to one of these guys and just listen. And it's changed the course of everything. Yeah, it's draining. It's hard. I'm sometimes afraid that more will be required of me than what I have. But almost every time since then that I've given of myself to love these guys, God has blessed me with random opportunities to be encouraged by other Christians and moments of joy that could never have come without choosing to pour myself out to Him by giving of myself to others. This place feels like an ocean of need, far to big for me to handle. Yet every step I take towards facing that need I become more whole, more filled, more full of His love! I get to walk downtown now and call the homeless by name. I get to walk downtown through these streets and pray and invite His presence into this place. I get to share the truth of Jesus with people wanting to sell me hashish. Is there any better life? This is amazing!
 The real life on the Mediterranean that most people don't see in tourist magazines.
First Image: Life in Mijas without tourists as the fog and rain quiet our small Pueblo.
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 2/13/2010
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:6)
The other day a woman came knocking on our door here in Mijas. In her voice was the sense of urgency, pain. Her cry beckoned my heart. The walls of my heart were trying to hold on, desperately trying to prevent me from feeling broken, trying to prevent me from feeling her hurt and pain. A pain that would unleash me to action. She was asking for money for her and her child, I think to head to the pharmacy.
I agree in most cases its not prudent to give out cash to just anyone. But I don't want to use prudency anymore as an excuse to put up walls in my heart. Instead of trying to find reasons not to help people, am I willing to sacrifice everything to share the love of my creator, and paradoxically then know that love as He flows through me? Instead of what can't I do, I want to ask what can I do. Yeah, it probably isn't a good idea to give out money to just anyone, but could I have used the opportunity of the woman at the door to in some way provide for her that would cost me more than money; perhaps my time and my heart. What do I have? How can I show her love?
While we were in a small village of Mexico on the World Race, someone knocked on our door in the middle of the night in a torrential downpoor. We didn't understand his local dialect, but I instinctively knew he wanted to be cared for in some way. After trying to understand through hand signals, attempting to give him food, all of us getting drenched in the rain, we gave him a blanket and the kitchen to stay in for the night. But my heart was desperate to invite him into our home. That would have potentially cost us our safety; who was this guy? I think we often instinctively know what people are longing for, we know what they are asking. But we're afraid of what could happen if we could be broken enough to give everything away, to be "wasted" for others, so we use excuses to draw lines to protect ourselves. They want to know that someone is willing to love them enough even to care for, and in time even be invited into our hearts. I know that I long to have what costs others everything. Those that become my best friends are those that are willing to give me what costs them the most - their heart.
Yesterday I ran up into the mountains and ... what? I prayed for more brokenness. Why do I do this? My pain stops for a moment and I pray for more. Why!? Because I deeply long to feel the love that Jesus has for all people. Yes, we do need to care for our hearts and our families. But I want to feel used. I've put up so many walls around my heart to protect me that I have very little to give to others. But as much as it hurts, I want to feel naked at heart.
Am I willing to be immersed in an ocean of need, really trusting the sufficiency of God's love? Am I willing to be rejected? Am I willing to learn another language ... or many? Am I willing to have few material posessions; am I willing to have no rights; am I willing to feel insecure in my surroundings? Am I willing to give up my couch or my bed or my dirt floor so I take every opportunity to share the love of Christ with someone in hopes that they may know Him? Perhaps if we began loving the people in the woodwork all around us, they would dare to ask for more, dare to require more of us. And that could be one of the most amazing experiences we could have on this earth.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
-- Matthew 6:19-21
Above Images: Fisherman in the nearby town of Fuengirola. I'm finally considering the Malaga area my home for now, and I'm loving building relationships and sharing Jesus with people from all over the world!
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 2/8/2010
Tibet: An elderly Tibetan women holding a prayer wheel on the Lhasa's pilgrimage circuit of Barkhor.
Image Taken By: Luca Galuzzi - www.galuzzi.it
Politics can be very confusing issues, and I believe God is using the authorities that are in place in China; He hasn't put up His hands; He's not lost control. However, a recent article in Newsweek portrays an interesting perspective on the Chinese attempt to assimilate the Tibetan plateau into China since the 1950s. The government has used its power to control the people of Tibet since its invasion in 1950. Yet they haven't earned the hearts; they don't have the love of the Tibetans.
"The money they had spent to buy the loyalty of Tibetans ($45.6 billion since 2001 for roads, trains, and housing complexes) had more or less come to nothing. 'Even the most massive infusions of funds have never been able to buy the affection of the people,' says Tibetologist Parvez Dewan, who has just coauthored a book called Tibet: Fifty Years After with Siddharth Srivastava. 'You can't get rid of the alienation of a people through development.'"
"Fifty Years After brims with surprise at the affluent, breathtakingly planned city that Lhasa has become-with sparkling six-lane roads and glass-front shops that sell all the top international designer labels. 'But we could not find any Tibetan who showed his loyalty to the Chinese,' says Dewan."
The Chinese have spent $45.6 billion and yet the one thing that matters the most, the heart of the people, they can't change. It's an interesting perspective and one that I think I can learn from. Paul says in I Cornithians 9:19, "Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible."
I'm facing the prospect that my increasing love for God is going to cost me everything. Am I willing to change my cultural identity to share Jesus' love that He has for all people? Am I willing to continually give and serve, never receiving love in return except from the one who loves me the most. Am I willing to be an actual slave, or at the very least walk in humility with the true confidence of my identity because of Christ living within me. I can't change people; I can't convince people of anything. If I teach, people can only receive, people will only change if the Holy Spirit is working within them. I know dangerously well that we often think we can change people with little cost to us. It's comfortable to think might, military power, or even the right words will cause change. But really, God has created people to be selflessly loved. True love is the one cross-cultural language that crosses through any barrier, any culture; it can melt the hardest of hearts, and tears down the thickest walls. Are we willing to lay down our pride, our rights, our freedoms for the chance to show people a love that their hearts are desperate for?
Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. In India the same river becomes very wide and is called Brahmaputra.
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 2/4/2010
Summer and I in Rocky Mountain National Park
Summer is undoubtedly the best friend I've ever had. She loved me selflessly through pain for eleven months on the World Race, never expecting to be loved in return. She loves me now through tough times and an undetermined future. Summer longs to know my heart, longs to encourage me even if God might split our paths. I have notes in my passport from months ago that were never meant to be anything more than thankfulness and encouragement that seem just as living now as they did then. Although Summer never wrote them to be, they are the some of deepest and most living expressions of love and friendship I've ever known.
I honestly don't know how to fully receive that love right now, Summer. Because you are sharing some of the deepest love I've ever experienced. And that love can only come from Christ. I've never cried so much in my life these past few days because I'm realizing for the first time how vivid and real true love really is. My face has been drenched on buses and sidewalks and in the airport because I don't want to lose you. It hurts so much because I feel like in a second, God could tear that love away from me. But I'm wrong.
Summer; I'm beginning to see that your love is not your own. Your love is the love of Jesus. And nothing can take His love for me. I've heard about your love, Jesus. I've seen it talked about in the Bible. But I always wondered what that love looked like. Summer; I know what that love looks like because Jesus is living in you.
I never understood why Paul wanted to leave for heaven. In Philippians 1:22,23 he says, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me." Why would I want to leave those that I love for Jesus? It never made sense to me, yet always haunted me. There had to be a real reason, something within Paul that drove him to speak those words. He wasn't lying, wasn't exaggerating. There was a longing, a love within Him that was so strong and REAL that he said he wanted to go and be with the one whom he loved the most. Christ's love drove Paul to love nations of people. Paul's love for nations wasn't his own, it was Christ's. But only because he felt the unconditional living tenderness, living friendship of someone within him always caring for his heart.
Tonight I experienced something I've never experienced before. I felt like my heart suddenly shifted. I feel Jesus moving around in my heart. He wants me to feel what it's like for Him to be my best friend, just as real, just as alive as Summer. Summer; you are showing me who Jesus is.
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 2/3/2010
Today on the Mediterranean
All I feel here is pain right now. I'm hunting for relief, trying to find out if there's anyway around where God is leading me. Do I even want this anymore? It'd be so easy to return to Colorado and run around in the mountains. I'm facing the hurt, the real pain of where God could be leading me, and climbing mountains in the United States seems pretty comfortable right now. I've thought about it. I'm learning the cost of following Christ. Learning what it means to give everything.
The trouble is I can't go back anymore. What I experienced then I will never experience again. If I return to the United States, I'll only end up bored and without purpose and still in pain. I'm not who I was a month ago.
Why the pain? I know where I must go, but feel it's impossible to get there. There's no way around, under, or over jumping in the scary ocean of God's love. I'm afraid of that ocean, afraid that I'll lose who I am, afraid that I'll drown. Scared of the waves, the depth, the cold. Scared I'll be forgotten, that it'll be lonely, desolate; the Mediterranean feels like death right now. But I'm being drawn in; I can't turn back. I can't even stop being pulled into the waves anymore. I'm dragging my feet through the sand at times, but learning to let go. Because I can't love and delight until I know that I'm loved and delighted in. There is no way to stop the beckoning. I can try and delay the inevitable. But I know I'm made for this, I know that only death comes if I don't jump in.
Back in Croatia, I spoke from Song of Solomon about the personal love Jesus wants to have with us. It says, "I belong to my lover, and his desire is for me. Come my lover, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages." (7:10,11). As I spoke, I admitted that this only seems like death and loneliness to me. Being alone in the countryside with Christ only seems like blackness; I don't know deep within that there is love to be found with Him. Fear of death; is God's love real; does it really fill the gnawing in my heart or does it make the gnawing worse? Verse 8:5 says, "Who is this coming up from the desert, leaning on her lover?" I think I finally want to come up from the desert leaning on Jesus. And I'm afraid of what it's going to take for me to get there. But I think now is the time. I think I'm finally desperate enough to let go. I won't know until I do.
I'm tired of striving. I want to finally be at rest. For the last fifteen years, I can't remember a time where I've known peace, a time where I've known rest! I'm done with trying, done with being weak. I think I'm almost ready to give up to know what it feels like to be secure in my relationship with Jesus. Are you?
I NEED TO KNOW THAT I'M LOVED
I NEED TO KNOW THAT I'M LOVED
THE ONLY THING THAT WILL UNLOCK MY HEART IS TO EXPERIENCE YOUR LOVE JESUS
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 1/30/2010
 I think we often live a reckless life ignoring the parts of reality we don't want to face. Especially in Western Society, we strive to cheat death and pain. And in doing so, I think we often choose to ignore loving and learning from those who are older and hurting around us.
This morning, we were waiting to move Dave Hearn's family here at G42 into his new home. I sat on a wall that looked over the Mediterranean, watching people walking up and down the cobblestone streets. The dichotomy amazed me as nice, tidy, cars would fly by through the narrow labyrinth with seeming purpose. And then minutes of quietness would pass when I could focus on details that I might often overlook.
One lady was cleaning as she chatted in Spanish to an old woman waiting standing at her door and occasionally strolling back and forth up and down the street. The old woman seemed lonely, and I began to think about what her life looked like perhaps 30 years earlier. Her skin was rough and sun-damaged. I wondered if she had spent months tanning on the beach, longing to know that she was beautiful, striving to be affirmed by men. An older couple then slowly strolled by; their faces held little more than a frown as they seemed to be wandering with little purpose.
After a unloading a van full of boxes, I rested for a few minutes, seeing myself in their shoes. I have my strength, I have purpose, I have future. But how will I live that future? I can no longer overlook that I too will age, I too will leave this earth.
I want to ENJOY this life, but I don't want to hang onto it. I want to fully live in confidence, joy, full of life, experiencing every bit of love God has for me. I want to give all of His love back to everyone God places in my path. I would rather live 10 years of passion, love, life and joy than 40 years focused on desperately trying to preserve the diminishing threads of beauty in this life.
Somehow I see incredible beauty in living fearlessly, full of love no matter where God places me and my family. I am immortal and eternal; I can't be killed. But most likely one day my body will die. Do I want to strive preserving my fragile security that will fade in this life? Or will I let Jesus fully live within me, giving up fear and replacing restlessness with His love, peace, and rest. If I fear, I'm only taking from others. But if Christ's love is flowing though me, I can entrust my life, my wife, and my family into His care. And then the irony of it all is that only then am I truly able to provide and love my family.
I want to walk into new frontiers full of confidence, humility and love. Not a selfish fear of what I could lose. Somehow we truly live, we become lovers, dangerous to Satan, when we are already dead - when we see past this life into eternity. And perhaps it's only then that we can truly enjoy "this" life! Somehow I'm finally seeing real glimpses that a life of security in His deep love is far more enjoyable no matter what the circumstances than a life constrained by our own security fences.
Above image: The actual street I was waiting on.
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 1/27/2010
Stephanie read this to our class today, and it pierced my heart like someone was almost perfectly describing me, calling out my name. I feel like this resonates with the core of who God has made me to be. Does anyone else feel that way?
The pioneering spirit leads the adventurous through the wilderness. It beckons to the restless soul. The wanderer finds drive in the vision itself...in the unknown. Risk is not a word that indicates "caution"; instead it screams "you're heading in the right direction; come just a little closer". This apostolic spirit plows a way where there seems to be no way. It cuts straight through the mountain that lies in its path. It perseveres through the intense cold and biting wind. It stands strong when the locust strips away every remaining morsel. But the Spirit remains...
The spirit awoke my heart. Once a person's heart is stirred, there is no turning back. It's a dangerous place to live, but I would have it no other way. The call lies dormant in a shadow until it is time to be aroused. The heart drives a person, but the call sends them. The danger no longer lies in living at the edge of yourself, now it is found in the great beyond... It's no longer at your fingertips, but now fully dwells in Him alone.
Posted in South Africa '07 by Stephanie Fisk on 7/5/2007
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 1/23/2010
I'm not asking if you will, but I'm asking if it's possible. Can you destroy my heart, or am I so well rooted in God's love that you can take my wife away, take my family away, take everything dear to my heart, and I will still walk in the confidence of God's love?
It's once again raining and cold here in Mijas. And being me, I took the opportunity to go running around the hills, getting thoroughly drenched. And after reaching the top of a hill, that question hit my heart. Am I truly broken? How deep does my well go? If my wife or I were thrown in prison, could you kill my heart? If you threatened to kill my family, would I still stand?
Summer and I live just twelve miles away and yet once again, we've been asked to limit our time together to just a few hours per week. The pain has been excrutiating this past week. I've felt angry, felt helpless. Can I trust that God is working through authority or do I rebel? Do I just give up and walk away from this relationship or can we hold this together? How much more of this can I take? Our relationship has already been through so many tests, does it ever end? Will we ever be able to just enjoy one another?
The other day Andrew Shearman told us we're not truly broken until the pain doesn't hurt anymore. And on top of the hill today, I realized I'm still not broken yet. And suddenly my heart was gripped with pain because I realize I'm still killable. Is there really a ton more pain ahead? Back in Colorado, God asked Summer to leave for an indefinite amount of time. It was only six days, but neither of us knew how long that time would be or if He would ask us to break apart our relationship. I had no control. And Summer knew that she couldn't go against what God was asking her. All I felt was helplessness, and I knew more brokenness was ahead that would eventually occur even when our fast from one another ended.
The other night, I went out on the roof to pour my heart out to God because of all of this; I was listening to the lies of the enemy as he was throwing doubt into what God has done to draw the two of us together, and I needed to hear from God Himself. I know almost instantly now when I need to turn to God. I'm blessed with the privilege to love Summer, yet I can't give to her unless I'm digging deep into the well of God's life.
All of this is causing me to reach into the heart of my creator in a way I never have before. And all of this is bringing more life to our relationship. It does seem counterintuitive. The more it feels like death to give up all that is dear to us to God, the more life we experience in Him. And I've realized I can't give up on my relationship with Summer even if I tried. God has forged a love between Summer and I that only He can tear apart. Our relationship can't deepen without Him, and yet it can only be destroyed by Him. And through our brokenness... the more that we give up control of trying to hold this relationship together, the more God seems to be showing us that no lie and no fear come close to threaten the bonds that He began creating in us over a year ago.
In theory I want to have an unkillable heart. But the deeper I go right now, I wonder if I'm willing to accept the calling that God may have for me. I'm questioning at times if I really want adventure anymore. But really there's nowhere I can move but forward. In the movie The Matrix, Neo discovers the truth about how disgusting and horrific the Matrix actually is, and he asks "Can I go back." Morpheus replies, "No. But if you could, would you really want to?"
There is no substitute for brokenness. And if God truly calls Summer and I to serve together for a lifetime, there is more wholeness needed that can only come through brokenness. My heart still needs to be cleansed and healed before I could truly ever give to a wife, especially with the amazing yet dangerous calling that God has placed upon my life and Summer's. Sometimes I feel trapped. Do I really want this calling anymore? Do I really want real adventure anymore? Is it possible to laugh and be full of joy in any circumstance?
There's no way out of the pain that still needs to come. But I'm already getting a glimpse into the resilience God is placing deep within my heart; a resilience that comes with knowing He is truly enough. A resilience that has nothing to do with walls, but rather a strength that will allow me to love without taking because I'm learning to drink deeply.
Above: Resilient wild apple blossoms in the Indian Himalaya
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 1/9/2010
After the World Race, Summer and I left Boston to prayerfully seek God over the next three weeks about continuing to pursue our relationship. Both her and I seperately had planned on being in Denver; even as very good friends we were excited about being able to see one another again if for nothing else to enjoy actually climbing in the mountains we both knew we loved to be in. Our friendship and love for one another already ran deep after having spent 7 months on the same team discovering our similar passions for sharing Jesus on new and potentially dangerous frontiers.
But with the excitement of being back in the mountains, we knew our time was short. God had been putting a heart for North Africa on her heart; and I knew that I really wanted to be discipled by the men at G42 before walking onto the frontier missions field. And after praying about our relationship, we both found out that our schools happened to be just 12 miles apart in Spain - not just in the same country, but a small bus ride away! But how did that affect us?
As I think of the future, I struggle with the idea of being both able to enjoy this life while knowing that it could end any time. What if God were to take my life or that of my wife or family? What if she develops cancer? What if I become imprisoned? What if my family is taken hostage for me sharing Jesus? That struggle haunts me; I want to know the secret of having joy in the midst of knowing how to deal with the potential of torn relationships or even just growing older.
Tonight as we were having dinner with our new family here in Mijas, I remembered once again that Summer and I chose to take every moment that God gave us in the short time we had in Denver. And that choice brought incredible life to our relationship! Our love for one another grew tremendously as we worked through struggles in our relationship and our walk with God. We learned to pray with one another in a way I've never prayed before. And I grew closer to God through the challenges we daily walked through. In short, we lived more life because we knew we only had three months in the mountains before the unknowns of where God was leading us next.
Perhaps that's part of the answer to my haunting. We have life only when we die. We can truly live life when we accept the risk to be loved by God because we aren't afraid to use what little time we have on this earth to freely give His Love ... and in return become full of life as a result. Not just experience life...but be life through and through!
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Posted in General Articles by Joel Chitwood on 1/7/2010
Overlooking the village of Mijas with the Mediterranean in the distance.
A few days ago, Summer and I were able to fly the trip from Michigan to Spain together as she prepares to train with YWAM, and I with G42. Our flight traveled over the beautiful frozen wilderness of Canada and the mountains of Greenland lit by the bright moon, and we saw an amazing sunrise over islands of Ireland shortly before landing in Germany. On our final flight into Spain, our plane turned to reveal beautiful snow-capped peaks and the Mediterranean just beyond as the sun dropped below the horizon. And now here in Mijas, the small village where I'm attending school, our community lives on the side of a mountain about 1000 feet above sea level overlooking the Mediterranean just north of Morocco. I'm blessed to be in such an amazing place to run, swim, and explore the mountains!
But as beautiful as this place is, the transition to Spain isn't easy. With Africa just to the south, I'm reminded why I'm here at G42. Spain seems very safe, yet the reality of where God soon may be calling me lies within reach. It's easy as a guy who has the desires of a warrior to dream about adventuring and taking Jesus to new frontiers when they are thousands of miles away. It seems exciting and amazing and incredible! Yet being this close to places where God could call me, I'm realizing the cost of what my desires and my calling could be.
Ultimately going to tough areas like Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, or India places the reality of persecution within reach to have the opportunity to share the life of Christ. The World Race was easy, but in the places I'm longing to go, people are killed and imprisoned today for sharing the Gospel. Could that happen to me? Am I willing to lay my life in the hands of my God, trusting Him with how long He wants me to be on this earth? Am I really willing to entrust my family to God enough to go to places that aren't easy ... so that others who otherwise may never hear about Jesus don't miss out on an eternity with our creator?
God has placed us on this earth to experience and share His life. Yet we see signs all around us that what we see is temporary. People age; suffering and hurt is everywhere. Ultimately, we all die! I don't want to desperately try and preserve and hang on to the diminishing threads of beauty in this life. Don't get me wrong - I really long to enjoy what God gives me today, and see God touch people with His healing. Yet I know that all we see is to be soon to be made new. We will be given a new heaven and a new earth. We will have new bodies that don't age. Pain and suffering won't exist! But how do I practically live that out today?
In Band of Brothers, a documentary sharing the story of Easy Company in World War II, an officer noted to a soldier struggling to engage the enemy, "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier is supposed to function."
I think Andrew Shearman, one of our teachers here at G42, said far more accurately at dinner tonight that life doesn't come until death. Am I willing to die? Pray that I see life the way Paul did - he saw real joy even in the midst of the temporary suffering we have in this short phase of our eternal lives. That's right...for those of us who know Jesus, life doesn't end! It starts now! I don't want to live a live of sorrow...but rather a courageous life...a life where I can be dangerous to our enemy because I see how amazing God's ultimate plan is! A life where we are willing to risk everything to bring the kingdom of God to our earth today! A life full of joy because I get to see what God is bringing to all those that choose relationship with Him!
I don't want to hold on to what is temporary; I want to be filled with joy and life right now because I see what's coming! A few years ago, John Eldredge brought new light to me in the verse John 3:36 where it says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life." I used to think eternal life only meant life when we get to heaven. But is it not possible that means life NOW too! I'm done with fear, done with sorrow, and done with trying to hold on to something that God will soon make new! Churches in Africa are surrounded by poverty and death and yet still continue to dance in joy! I wanna do that too!
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