T-Squad

Thank you...

...for taking me in as one of your own

...for following a new young leader

...for sifting through the crap in my life to find the real treasure

...for the late nights and the long flights

...for the early mornings and the coffee

...for helping me see what God sees in me

...for helping me show what I have to offer

...for loving when I didn't love back

...for carrying my big backpack

...for the new sights, tastes, and smells

...for teaching me to fear the Lord

...for calling me up into manhood

...for having grace

...for the rooftop revelations

...for getting me lost in the stars

...for pinpops

...for an AWESOME 21st B-DAY

...for your mentorship and gym membership

...for handstands and cartwheels

...for real men

...for real women

...for real friends

and for real love.

Forever there will be a T carved in my heart from this year.

I love you all.

Love, Steve

P.S. Last blog on the race... The adventure is only starting!

Our first day doing ministry here in Darwin, Australia we set out to do a Bible study in the aboriginal community of Bagot. Now over this last year I have encountered many local drunks, and our first night in Bagot I learned that I've stereotyped the village drunk man as someone who I cannot help, as someone who has nothing to offer me, and as someone who is somehow a further distance away from God than I. 

Every time I've seen Richard this month he has been intoxicated and therefore he unfairly fell into my stereotype of the village drunk. Durning the Bible study he kept shouting out gibberish and I became more and more annoyed by him. I honestly thought it would be better for everyone including him if he wasn't there. I didn't think he could possibly be getting anything out of the study and I thought for sure he was not at all interested in God. 

After Phil (the man on our team leading the Bible study that night) finished his talk we moved into worship. We sung a couple songs and then I thought the night was over. However, Isobel (our contact) wanted some of the people from the aboriginal community to sing a song for us. When she called up Richard to play the guitar I laughed to myself preparing for quite the drunken show. Then he hit his first chord... WABAAMM!! Punched right in the chest... He held the melody and even sung along really well for the rest of the song. He was there to encounter God just as much as I was, and in that moment I'm sure God was smiling down on him a bit more than myself. 

I saw Richard for the first time through God's eyes instead of my own. Richard has a heart for the Lord and he has struggles and copes with things on this earth just like I do. Sure we might go about pushing through the hard parts of life differently, but I don't think God looks at that as much as He looks at our heart for Him. My prayer from that day forward has been, 'God, show me peoples heart behind their struggles and coping mechanisms, because I want to love them as you love them. Amen.'

One week later Richard punched Scott Taylor (another guy on our team) in the face only this time with his fist. I'm not sure if he has written about it but you should check out his blog either way. 

There is a moment on the race when you realize that you are far away from home, a moment where you want nothing more to go home, a moment where you realize going home is not going to be easy, and a moment when you realize where home really is.

   A young child is enjoying his afternoon marveling at a painting one of his classmates had created. It had a bright yellow and orange sun setting behind a small hill. There was a big tree and a few stick figures as people scattering the foreground. The young child couldn't take his eyes off of the painting. The painting consumed his thoughts and he constantly plotted ways to obtain such paintings for himself.

   His father walked into the room and noticed how his son was in deep admiration of the painting. The child did not notice his father because the painting had such a grip on him. This went on for about week. Time after time the father would walk into his son's room but no attention would be paid to him.

   At the end of the week the father new he had to find a way to get his son's attention. The sun was setting behind the buildings of the city casting a majestic glow under the clouds. The city shined bright with orange, red, purple, and blue all vividly lighting up the sky. The father, knowing that this was just the thing to snap his son out of it, quickly ran to the room. He called his son to follow him outside, but his son resisted! The son rebutted that his picture was far more important then what ever it was his father was trying to show him. But, with increasing urgency his father coursed him up to the roof. As they were climbing the final steps the father saw the beautiful sun set and immediately knocked his son on the head for thinking that his painting could have ever compete with such a glorious sight. 

   The son, first mad that he had to leave his painting, now furious that he had a bump on his head, looked up at his father in pure anger and shouted why!? Why did you take something so precious away from me and then knock me on the head!? His father answered. Just open your eyes. As the son turned to gaze upon sunset everything simply melted away. The obsession with the painting, the pain in his head, and even the anger in his heart towards his father. The son realized how little he knew about the beautiful things of this earth, he realized he was so caught up in his painting that he had forgotten that there is so much more to life, and all that he needed was a knock on the head.

All through Africa and Thailand God has taught me a lot, and because of it, constant rapid growth has become the 'norm' in the building up of my faith. However this first week in Cambodia things have slowed down. I haven't had a revelation every day or so, I haven't felt the heavy presence of the Holy Spirit during my quiet times or during worship, and a struggle of mine hasn't been pointed out so that I can work at it.

At first I looked at this week and saw stunted growth. However, after bringing it to my Father he showed me that even though I haven't been feeling the Holy Spirit as much, or learning new things everyday, I was still growing in my faith.

Even though I wasn't experiencing growth in the way I was familiar with, God was still using me. Over the last week I have had some amazing conversations with people on my team, I've prayed for people back at home and have recently seen dramatic changes in their life's, and even though I still haven't heard from God in the ways that I have become accustom to, He has still taught me two really important things.

First, He showed me that I don't need to be learning something new to be bringing His kingdom. He can use me just the way I am to do any work, big or small. Second, God is pleased with me before I go out and do even one good work. My commitment to Him is already enough to please Him.

So to recap, God doesn't need me to have life changing revelations everyday to keep growing in my faith, I am fully equipped to do what He wants me to do right now by simply saying yes to his call, and God is pleased with me for simply choosing Him.

God is not the only one that needs to hear your prayers. You need to hear your prayers! For the longest time I've prayed in my head and even though God can hear it just as clearly as when I simply thought my prayer, many times it didn't even register what I was bringing to Christ. For me prayer became really intimate when; every idea I struggled with, every nasty feeling I had inside, every praise I had to God, and every sin I committed was verbalized to my Father. He answers prayers. He always has an open ear, and even when I just want to yell at him he would rather I process it with Him then on my own. He listens and he answers every prayer. 

My advice, take ten minuets for some quiet time with God. Go on a walk, find a soundproof room so you can yell at the top of you lungs the things weighing on your heart, but most importantly be real with him. He sees your heart regardless so just tell it to Him as it is, be truthful and don't hold back. I promise he will move. He has for me more times then I can count.