Looking at God's Will: "Obedience to the Heavenly Vision"

Obedience to the Heavenly Vision is a short book written by Sam Doherty, the former CEF co-director of Ireland and regional director of Europe along with his wife Sadie. I read it as a part of my support-raising training through CEF, but even if it hadn't been assigned, hopefully I would have picked it up at some point and read it through. I can't tell you how encouraging it was to me!

As I read Obedience, the personal nature of God’s vision stood out to me. Sometimes I’ve been frustrated with God’s call: why are there things He asks me but doesn’t ask my friends? Why does He send them through one route and me through another? I’m like the pot that asks its creator, why have you made me like this? I also frequently wonder if I’ve botched things up enough so that God will give up on me and take His vision elsewhere. But when I doubt my place in His plan, He continues to bring things into my life to remind me how He brought me into ministry, and that my place is here until He takes me out – things like this book.

For someone who tends to pressure herself and compare herself to others, it is liberating to read that His purpose in sending His vision isn’t merely for me to complete a task, nor is it to make me more like someone else. Rather, His revelation is to help me understand who He is; His purpose is to draw me closer to Him. Whatever God has for me will look different in some ways from what He gives to others, in the same way He made me different in looks and personality. Through this plan, He shows me that He values me, that He understands me better than I understand myself, and that His purpose for me is specific.

Encouragement in the face of... stuff.

  A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle was on my shortlist of favorite books for my sophomore and junior years of high school (if you read it, you will understand the appeal it holds for an awkward teenage girl). In the story there was a poem that captured the attention of the heroine and myself. It wasn't "The World", by Henry Vaughan, although that would be a good guess considering the book's title. The poem was actually a short and odd-sounding snippet (to my modern ears) by Sir Thomas Browne, and it helped our moody protagonist as she dealt with the immanent death of her grandfather.

Habakkuk 2:13, 14 (NIV)

"Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire,

that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,

as the waters cover the sea."

Bethel's thoughts: No matter how hard I work (or how lazy I am), no matter how good I am or how full of mistakes, God says he'll still fill the world with knowledge of him. I just need to stand back and watch. :)

Three weeks of fair - over 300 kids!

Good News Club house sign shows the fun inside!

We had a variety of weather... cold
 and soaking wet to sweltering

Face painting (we were given some new
high quality paints by a woman at one of the fairs,
which was a blessing; it looks fantastic)

The Wordless Book Gospel story with the "magic bag"

Fair at night (post-rain)

Story in progress: please wait!

What we've been up to the last two weeks!

Here's a few testimonies from your friendly neighborhood Christian Youth in Action!

Building Our Lives on Jesus: Our first two weeks of club are over, and boy did we have some funny kids! One teacher asked for a review question, "What did...

There'll be stories like these all summer long!

CEF in Russia

For the last year now, Child Evangelism Fellowship has been working with the Russia Baptist Union to help train teachers in presenting the Gospel!

 I'm always interested in how God is working in the former Soviet Union (particularly Russia); it seems the Protestant church there has flourished, despite the changing political climate which is becoming hostile towards non-Orthodox religion. Maybe the church rifts go too deep for Protestant-Orthodox partnerships, but hopefully they can retain a peaceful coexistence, whatever the state does. According to this article from CEF's website, CEF of Russia has worked with "Orthodox, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Charismatic" church groups, reaching over 150,000 children in 2011.

5-day club verses

This year, the club theme is Jesus the Lifesaver, aka Knowing Christ.

There's a new memory verse for each day, all of them about who Jesus says He is. They're known as the "I Am" verses from the book of John. :)

Monday: JOHN 10:11 "I am the good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."

Tuesday: JOHN 6:35 "...I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty."

Knowing Christ in Quiet

“Do you know what a quiet time is?” the 5-day club teacher asked the kids. One spoke up with certainty; “when you're asleep.”
It was probably true, for this boy, that the only “quiet time” of day was when he slept. That was most certainly the only “quiet time” of day for his mother!

The disciples, ironically, might have given the same answer about quietude. Everywhere they traveled with Jesus, someone had a question or a problem for Him to solve. Many times, it was the disciples themselves who had questions. They were confused and sometimes frustrated by Jesus and His answers.

Some Good Reasons

  After you've done something once, the odds of you doing it again usually increase... even when you have a bad experience!

  My first year of Christian Youth in Action® (CYIA™) was not the best -- when people asked me, I said I doubted I'd be back for a second year. However, God had other plans. :)

  Some of our summer missionaries this year have questioned their own motives, and struggled to find God's voice in the tumult of everyday life. But from what I've heard them say, they all have excellent reasons for coming back this summer...

Manifesto

Christ has given me a purpose -- "from now on, you will catch men."

He entrusted the ministry of reconciliation to me!

Why do I doubt? I can't do his work -- obviously -- but he can.

I believe he will get me through school in his way, and that he'll educate me far beyond that.

I believe he will guide the people around me and draw my heart to the right person at the right time, so there's no reason for me to be concerned about it now.

I believe he will deepen my dependence on him. And I believe this one will be painful.

I believe he will heal my body and mind.

                      -- OK, I'm still having a hard time with this one. I'm still afraid he won't heal me and I'll mess            
                          everything up because I'm broken. But...

I believe he will use me for his glory even though I'm broken. His Spirit will move in me to touch others' lives.

I (in myself) am afraid. But I (in Him) am confident that He is not finished with me yet.

CYIA Winter Retreat!

This weekend a group of us came together for a Christian Youth in Action winter retreat. It was a time of refreshment and fun for everyone who came, though I think our visitors from down south felt it was a little chilly (and it was)!

Ready for lunch! And what a delicious lunch, too.

Spoiler alert: THE WAY = Jesus

So there Jesus was, about to die. He and his friends were finishing up some last-minute gospel teaching, but Jesus' message wasn't quite getting through to his friends.

"I will be with you only a little longer," Jesus said.

Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?"

Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."

Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."

Peter wasn't the only one with questions: after Jesus told his disciples that he would take them where he was going one day, and that they knew the way to that place, Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

Jesus didn't expect that his disciples had some sort of magical GPS that told them how to get to unknown destinations, but he did expect that they knew him, at least a little bit.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

How small is your strength! (Proverbs 24:10)

Sometimes I realize how completely lost and hopeless I am. It's not like I want to be a fool, but sometimes I really am a fool.

Colossians 1

What does the Bible say about us as Children of God?

We have been "...strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 

     giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 

Summer statistics

Western Wisconsin by the numbers...


La Crosse Interstate Fair: 265 children reached, 85 decisions for Christ
Monroe County Fair: 12 children heard the Gospel, 350 books distributed

5-day Clubs:

Tomah area: 60 children reached, 4 decisions
La Crosse area: 265 children reached, 24 decisions
Eau Claire area: 78 children reached, 13 decisions

That's 126 children in Western Wisconsin who made decisions for Christ through CEF this summer!

The REAL Good News

"Bank robbers sin."
The little girl was adament on that point.

"People who rob banks. Bullies at my school. My big brothers; they're mean to me."

Those were her answers to our question, "Who has sinned?" Over the course of Good News Club, we went through the gospel five or six times, and each time the girl replied, "bad people have sinned." Whenever that happened we told her, "the Bible says in Romans 3:23 that ALL have sinned. That includes me and you." It seemed she was beginning to understand, so Mrs. Weibel asked the little girl if she could tell US the gospel. The little girl picked up her Wordless Book bracelet and began.
"The gold is like some roads in heaven where God lives. The dark is like bad things that bad people do."

I stopped her a second and asked, "Who has done bad things?"

"People who rob banks." ...OK, so we weren't there yet.

Keats, Harry Potter, and the Matrix. Because I'm not a Poet.

Who was it who said, "a thing of beauty is a joy forever?"
Ah yes.
It was John Keats in his poem Endymion, and I think he was wrong.

Keeping up with Testimonies

Unless you, dear reader, know a hardcore CEF/CYIA participant (and I happen to know several - what a coincidence), you may not have heard testimonies recently of the great work God is doing through CEF in the Midwest region!

My coworker's comment when I told him what I was doing was "wow, I haven't heard of CEF in a long time. Are they still around?"

I think Child Evangelism PR needs a reboot, maybe. But you didn't hear that from me.

Hopefully you (dear reader) know all about what CEF has been doing in Western Wisconsin over the past few years. But just in case you haven't, I've compiled a list of links to check out for testimonies, news, and some all-around fantastic pictures of teens and kids and grown-ups serving the Lord.
Check them out!

* Testimonies from Western Wisconsin hosts, parents, teachers, etc.
* A photo gallery of CYIA 2010 
* Quotes from children (what this blog is really about!)
* For old photos (I mean like ancient, ancient, 2008-2009 photos), see here and here

Check out the stories. Are you excited? :)

Exciting Stuff!

265 children were reached during the La Crosse Interstate Fair with 85 professing faith in Jesus Christ. Exciting?? Yes!

One more exciting thing: they were reached by teenagers from Western Wisconsin!

When you put those two things together, you may see what I see...

Teach Me to Breathe

I had never thought of this before today, but perhaps... perhaps I've looked at my relationship with God backwards.

In my Sunday school class this week, our teacher mentioned how our brains eventually learn how to multitask, so we can walk and chew gum and talk on the phone all at the same time!

But while we are conscious of doing all this things, on a deeper level, our brain is controlling the function of our heart, lungs, eyes, and nerve endings. We aren't conscious of it, but our heart is beating and we are breathing as we walk, talk and chew.


So.
Instead of consciously thinking about God all the time - impossible to do; I know, I've tried - I need part of my brain to automatically think of Him when trials come or I see something beautiful. I need, in short, a sub automatic mental function that connects to my spiritual consciousness.

But I never had to train my brain to make me breathe on its own. I have had to strengthen my lungs to gain a greater air capacity, but my brain already knew to make me breathe without my help. But don't you think the same God, who made my brain keep me alive automatically, could make me able to run to Him automatically?