Sanctification at the DMV

For the last five years of my life, I have had that little red banner on my driver’s license saying, UNDER 21 until 05/16/2005. So, since I had to get my title changed for my vehicle so I can take it to Mexico in another month, I decided today is as good a day as any to get my UNDER 21 banner off my license . . . besides, I figured they would probably give me grace on my birthday for any trouble I might come across.

So, I decided that I would do my quiet time there since I knew I would have to wait in line for quite some time . . . no pun intended. I decided to go as a witness for Christ and nothing that happened would make me shift my purpose as an ambassador for Him. I walked in, got my C125 ticket, and then I proceeded to fill out my paper work. I found myself quickly chuckling at a very ill behaved child that I would have happily gave a spanking too, a women who was upset because her license had been suspended, and the mere fact that I was sitting in a small room with about 100-200 people all waiting in a place full of grumpy people. So, it was at such a place that I decided to be a light for Jesus Christ. However, after waiting quite some time with a few little hiccups with my paper work, I finally left the DMV (after 1 hr 45 min) feeling a bit overwhelmed with my own sin through the process of all that took place. It is amazing to me how quick I am to forget to be HOLY as Christ is holy through the middle of hard times. Thank the Lord for GRACE and for teaching me about patience!!!!

All in all, this last week of celebrating my birthday and graduation has been filled with some of the greatest memories of my life, and I can’t even thank the Lord enough for the incredible ways that He has blessed me. I truly do desire to be a vessel for His use as he continually conforms me into the precious image of His Son.

To all my friends and family who have helped shape the man that I am, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Graduation, Freedom, and Contentment

About a week ago, I finished the last ASU school final of my life, and last Thursday night I finally graduated. Yep, I now officially have a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the W.P. Carey School of Business. I am so thankful to finally be free from the frustrating struggles of late night studying, the tedious papers, and the many group projects and presentations. Though I feel completely free from many of these struggles, life still goes on, and I am reminded that contentment only rests in the continual understanding that God is in control over all aspects of life. I never want to fall into the trap of the “I’ll be happy when” syndrome. I want to be continually joyful and content through every aspect of my life. Unless I am resting in the shadow of God’s almighty wings, I will never be happy once I finish college, get the job, get the wife, get the house, get the 4 wheelers, etc, etc. Paul said in Philippians 4 that he had learned the secret of being content through all circumstances . . . Paul said that the secret was the knowledge that he could do all things through Christ who gave him strength. AMEN!!

Truly I have learned a ton these last three years in college, but the best part of my college career was getting to the end and knowing that I have awesome family and friends who love me. As I was walking down the aisle to get my diploma I think that I had the loudest yelling crowd cheering my name as it was called. Having my family, Bapa and Nanny, the Paasch family, and my friend Clint Smith cheering me on meant so much. I figure the degree is pretty important, but what means more to me than a piece of paper is my family and friends who love me so much to sit through the most boring two hour presentation one could ever suffer through . . . thanks all for making me feel like a million bucks that night . . . thanks even to the Silly String Sisters, though vengeance shall be had . . . blah ha ha ha ha.

Love Relationship

Well, this last week I was reminded that I am in a love relationship . . . WITH GOD!!! As I was strolling through the ASU M.U. last Tuesday trying to figure out where I should eat, I conveniently ran into Scott Maxwell . . . the pastor of EVBC Tempe. He had just finished a campus Bible Study the week before, and was just on campus studying and ready to meet with anyone from the study. Though I wasn’t actually aware of the study that he had been doing, I quickly invited myself to his table so that I might be able to glean some wisdom from such a man of God. WOW, I was incredibly amazed at the way God opened this door and allowed our conversation to be so fruitful.

Before I go into what I learned, I must first mention the sovereignty of God and the way in which he answers prayer. Tuesdays are usually the hardest days for me since I am up at 4 am for the Training Center at EVBC that starts at 5am. To top that, I had a presentation that I was supposed to make in the T.C. and then a huge test in my first class at ASU. I wasn’t going to get much sleep, and I knew it would be a super hard day, so I asked my mom the night before if she would pray for me the next day. Little did I know that she would be in continual prayer for me throughout the whole day. She specifically prayed from about 4:30-5:30am and then she kept praying for the rest of the day as she thought of me . . . I am super encouraged by the way my mom is so faithful and sensitive the needs of her kids that she would spend this amount of time in prayer for me . . . truly her prayers were fruitful and effective.

I was incredibly amazed at the fact that God sustained me through the day (I was probably amazed because of my lack of faith in the power of prayer), and then he even gave me the joy of running into Scott Maxwell at ASU. It was at that lunch that my heart become convicted and encouraged at the same time. As I have become more and more aware of my deep passion for serving students, I love to talk with men who have served with student ministries and have gone the road before me. As a previous youth pastor, Scott was able to tell me some key essentials for being involved in ministry. He reminded me that Christians are in a LOVE RELATIONSHIP with the God of the universe. I am not in a knowledge relationship (which I am prone to do so frequently), but I am supposed to be a passionate soldier for Christ that eagerly desires to know God more. I have the “revelation of God” in the Bible that I hold, and it is God’s way of revealing Himself to me. I should not casually open it in a habitual, ritualistic manner to obtain knowledge. Rather, I should consistently read it in a passionate desire to know my Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ whom God sent to suffer and die for my sins. I desperately desire to be a Christian that loves Christ, and a man that desires to know God as if I were in a love relationship . . . which I am in. I want to love His word, and be saturated and filled with the truths about Himself that are revealed so clearly throughout the Scriptures. This was an amazing day that has radically reshaped some of my thinking about how I should approach the Scriptures, and I now desire to approach them as the Psalm writer of Psalm 119 . . . in this chapter, the Word of God is exalted and it is clear that the heart of the psalmist desires to know God, to worship him, and to experience a Love Relationship with Him.

Dear Father,
Please let me consistently desire to experience this love relationship with you. Cause my hearts affection to fall on you and help me to know you more through your revealed Word. I love you father, but help me to love you more. In yours Sons name, Amen.