Reminders

I love how God can use anytime, anywhere, to remind us that He’s around. He’s providing for us, caring for us, and loving us. Today, God once again reminded me of this so I’ll share it with you.

I’m currently on vacation with my wife’s family, so my father-in-law and I decided to go play some golf. We both love to play whenever we get the chance, and what better chance than now. 

Anyway, I haven’t played in about 6 months up to this point so I wasn’t expecting to make any great shots but, on our fifth hole, I shot a birdie. Now those of you that don’t play much know this aint an easy thing to do. But somehow I managed to make a 10-15 yard chip for birdie on a par 3. Since this isn’t a common thing for me I didn’t know how to act. No celebration fist-pump or jump in the air kinda thing. Just in awe. 

As I was walking back to the cart after picking up the ball I looked down to clean my club, and right there in the middle of mud, grass, and sand were to pine needles shaped just like a perfect cross. I thought, “Huh, that’s cool,” cleaned off the club and kept walking.  In the middle of walking down a steep hill my father-in-law said something about walking gracefully. Just by him saying something about grace, and the cross pine needles on my club God was saying to me, “Hey, I’m here. Just wanted you to know.”

I love that God speaks in so many ways, reminding us of His presence. Reminding us that He is always around. His presence is everywhere, sometimes we just have to stop and realize it. Stop and notice Him. Yes, even on the golf course he can say to you...

“Hey, I’m here. Watching you. Protecting you. Loving you. Just wanted you to know.”

-David

Summer recap from a different perspective

Hello there readers!

Below you will find a link to the official Clear Camps blog. One of our leaders has written some about the summer, and also a challenge to all who attended a Clear Camp this summer. It's a great read from a different perspective than mine so I figured I'd share it with you here, so take a look. 

http://www.clearcamps.com/yourmove/

David

Book Review: Living Close to God

I’ve said it before, but periodically I’ll write reviews on some books I get for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.  I usually enjoy the books I get and God uses them to speak some great things into my life. Basically, I learn some good principles. The book I’m writing a review on here is no different. 

Living Close to God (When You’re Not Good At It) by Gene Edwards is a book about learning to fellowship with God throughout one’s busy day. It’s about having a spiritual life for spiritually handicapped or practical people. It’s about furthering one’s walk with Christ beyond merely reading the Bible and praying, but about genuinely walking day by day with the Lord.

Throughout the book, Edwards gives practical advice and steps, that he has personally taken, to learn how to fellowship consistently throughout one’s day. Some of these include finding God in the quiet places, putting up small reminders in places that one frequently goes, and finding cracks in the day where one can simply be with the Lord. 

While Edwards gives great practical steps for the “spiritually handicapped” to walk with the Lord, he’s not very consistent in his explanations.  At times the throughout there are redundancies upon redundancies to such explanations as ‘partaking’ of the Lord. Other times the content seemed to be shallow and simply a space filler. One such instance would be chapter 18 where he discusses pursuing Christ in a corporate setting. I would have loved for him to expand on these thoughts further, but they seem to be quick afterthoughts. 

There are other instances of inconsistent explanations in this book, however this is my only complaint about the work. For all practical purposes this is a great book and I would recommend it for those seeking a way to walk closer with Christ, even though you may not be good at it! 

Like I said earlier, I received this book for free to review from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers. If you would like your own copy I suggest Amazon. 

David

Clear 2012 - Week 8

Week 8 - Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment

Well, here the is, the last installment of my Clear Camp summer blog for 2012.  

The last week of camp consisted of all three of our teams converging onto the Daniel Springs Baptist Encampment for our biggest camp of the summer.  This youth camp brings in an average of about 600 students and 100 adults a year.  Add in the close to 70 Clear Staffers and guest throughout the week, there is about 800 people on the campus at any given time.  Needless to say, there is a lot going on.  

Throughout this week God was continually pushing me out of my comfortable place.  I didn’t realize that I had any comfortable places left after being surrounded by my other 16 team members non-stop for five weeks, but I did.  

Anyway, one of the major standards of Clear is that the staff is with the students as much as possible.  This means from breakfast at 7:30 in the morning until we walk them back to their cabins between 11-11:30 at night.  What this does is forces us to interact with students, at all times.  It forces those of us, like me, that don’t really like to talk, to talk.  

For me, this week started with just simply talking with the adult leaders.  I met some that had been doing this for a long time, and others that were at a Clear event for the first time.  Mostly, God pushed me in talking with students in the lunch/dinner line.  Since we all had to be there, and it took some time to go through, I had some great conversations with students throughout the week.  I really believe that God was speaking through me, showing His vast love to the students.  

Even as I type this, God is showing/reminding me how he systematically brought me through this summer, not just this week, teaching me to interact with people I don’t know.  He has continually been teaching me about His love for people.  About his love for me.  

The week at Daniel Springs concluded with 60 salvations.  How amazing is that!?  60 new believers in the kingdom!  That is why we do camp.  To lead students into a relationship with Christ, and give them tools to grow in that new relationship.  Over the entire summer, with three teams from East Texas, to Chicago, to Florida, and all the way to India, Clear has seen 293 give their lives to Christ!

This has truly been an amazing summer for me.  God has shown me a ton about himself, and myself.  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along.  If you would like more information about Clear, let me know or check out the website at www.clearcamps.com. There is some great stuff coming up this fall that you should definitely check out. 

Until next time,
David

Clear 2012 - Week 7

Week 7 - Conroe, TX

Week 7 of our Clear summer consisted of our team heading down to Conroe, TX to work with a church called Under Over Fellowship.  The church, less than two years old, is pastored by Jerry Vineyard.  Due to a passion to serve the homeless community in Conroe, their vision is to be a literal “come as you are” church family.  

What's really amazing, is that Under Over genuinely wants to help people get back on their feet.  Vineyard and his team take a few people at a time, teach them how to restore old furniture in their shop Under Over Mission, and then sell it in the store called All Things New.  After time, the guys working in the shop make enough money selling furniture to have a secure sustainable income.  

This week we also had the chance to visit the Conroe House of Prayer, or CHOP as it’s commonly referred to.  This is a ministry that opens its doors for the homeless community every weekday from about 5:00 to 9:00am.  Food is provided along with daily worship and preaching.  

While at the CHOP on Monday, we were able to further connect with many of the same people we had met at Under Over Fellowship on Sunday.  Through the week many of the team had the opportunity to listen to stories and pray with many of the people.  We even had one guy tell us that he would give God another try after hearing one of our team members talk about the week.  What’s amazing is that God was showing His vast love for people through every individual on our team.  

I really think that was one of the big things God wanted to show me this summer, what His love really looks like.  I spent the whole week in 1 Corinthians 13, which most of you know as the Love chapter.  I really think that being in the middle of a bunch of people I’ve never cared about before, and spending time in this chapter, God expedited my learning of the subject.  I’m no expert on God’s love yet, but I have a better understanding.  I would encourage you to go read 1 Corinthians 13 and take some time to understand what love is, and what love is not.  I believe this will help you get a better understand of God’s love for people.  

So anyway, back to Conroe.  There is so much more I could tell you about our week in Conroe.  We put on a VBS for a parent center located in an old school and saw three or four kids come to know Jesus as their savior.  We walked around in some sketchy neighborhoods with known drug houses passing out flyers and making connections for Under Over Fellowship.  We had the opportunity to lead a Wednesday night service where many of our team had a part through music, preaching, testimony, dance, or serving.  But through all of what we did, God’s love was shown and that’s the only thing that really mattered.  

Thanks for reading!

David