Newsletter and thoughts for today

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So, thought for today:  I've lost a lot coming to Costa Rica.  I've lost my beautiful Jeep Cherokee Sport.  I've lost day to day life with my family, friends and Young Life kids in Westfield.  I've lost the ability to get Taco Bell at 1 a.m.  I've lost the freedom to go wherever, whenever, with whomever I want.  I've lost a sense of stability.  I've lost a sense of security.  I've lost a sense of blissful ignorance.  I've lost some independence.  I've lost some financial "freedom."  I've lost the ability to choose what I want to wear.  I've lost a lot.

But I've gained Jesus.  Now to some that might sound corny and to others a little crazy.  But it's really true.  Here's a bit from a study I'm doing right now:

"We are so oriented to a quick response we abandon the word from God long before He has developed our character...When you make the adjustments and start to obey Him, you come to know Him by experience.  This is the goal of God's activity in your life--that you come to know Him."

In my life in the U.S., I think I often sought a quick response from God and in the process missed wonderful opportunities for Him to develop my character.  But not here, there is nothing quick about life here and there is nothing quick about the pace of ministry.  And as I've started to make some adjustments and obey Him even when it seems crazy or a waste of time, I've come to know Him through experience.

Through experiencing God more and more each day.  So yes, I've lost a lot.  And some days the scales seem unbalanced and I focus more on that than what I'm gaining.  And I pray on those days, this would be my strength:


But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him...


Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


-Phillipians 3:7-9a, 12-14