A Recent Transformation
Man oh man! The past several weeks have been so crazy I don’t even know where to begin; well actually I do, by proclaiming at the top of my lungs how great God is! Since I last wrote I have stopped working at Chipotle, spent some AMAZING time with family and friends, continued learning more and more about how to support raise, and have been having my mind blown by God’s faithfulness. Let me back track a little bit… after quitting Chipotle I thought support raising would come a lot easier and with my time completely devoted to it, I would easily start making up ground from falling behind, this... Read more
Climbing the Mountain
Last summer, I got really hooked on the Tour de France. Like, really hooked. Each stage of the 21-stage race starts around 8 AM, and last summer I was more of an 11 AM-Noon kind of guy. But I was getting up to watch most of the race each day, if not all of it. I was kind of surprised that this had happened. Prior to last summer, I had never had any particular interest in competitive cycling. Like most Americans, I would vaguely hear about Lance Armstrong doing his thing every year, but once he retired and was subsequently stripped of all seven of his Tour de France titles due to performance-... Read moreLearning Trust
Hello friends! I thought I would write an update on where I am at so far this summer. I have had the chance to meet now with so many wonderful people and couples that have supported me, encouraged me, challenged me, and prayed for me. How amazing to know that I do not have to go though this journey alone, that there are endless amounts of fellow Christians who are willing to meet with me, hear about what I will be doing in Berlin, and who are willing to commit to pray and even give donations to the cause! What a blessing it has been! Thank you all so much for your love and support. That... Read more
Precious June
When I started raising support I thought I would sow seeds in people's lives and help them be good stewards with the resources God has given them. However, in the process, God has convicted me of the resources I have, relationships I need to develop, and judgments I hold onto. Recently, my church had a financial crisis. Unfortunately, this is fairly common in churches comprised of college-30 somethings. However, this event opened up doors for people to talk about money and stewardship, subjects that have been on my mind a lot these days as I raise support to go to Germany. I like how Steve... Read more
Who is brave?
I've been support-raising for about 5 weeks now. Three weeks in Pittsburgh. Two weeks at home. I've met and talked with a lot of people by this point. And as I meet with people, there's something that I keep hearing- people keep remarking about how brave I must be. Brave to be moving to a new culture where I don't know the language or customs. Brave to be leaving home to live in the Middle East. Brave to be doing something completely different from what I just spent 4 years studying in college (No, I probably won't be doing any neuroscience while I'm abroad). But I don't feel brave. What is... Read moreGod is Bigger...
...Than the Boogie Man! If you don't get that reference to Veggie Tales.. you really should try to watch an episode. If you don't know what Veggie Tales is, well basically it is a children's cartoon of talking and singing vegetables that tell Bible stories, pretty creative! Any ways, I just wanted to update people so that they can know where I am at, what I am up to, and so on. Right now, I am preparing for training and I have homework assignments that I have been working on to help me prepare for it. Yeah, you read that correctly... I have homework! I thought it would end when I graduated... Read moreBy God's Strength
So the last couple weeks have been challenging for me. I tend to be a bit of a “go getter” liking the feeling of accomplishing things, solving problems and helping people. I also am normally very active and spend as much time outside and on my feet as possible. So when my knee was not recovering as quickly as I had hoped I down played it telling people, and myself, I was sure I would be walking by next week, and I really didn’t need any help, that I was just a little slower than usual. However, I was really in quite a bit of pain and at my second post op check up my doctor was taken aback... Read more