Well. Here goes nothing.
I feel like I've been avoiding this moment. The moment where I sit down and actually begin to think through my summer and look at all I learned and all that I can continue to learn from it. It seems so overwhelming that my lazy self has waited until now to attack it.
Being home has been hard. People talk about the infamous case of Post Project Depression that usually hits students following an amazing Summer Project experience. I don't think I have that. I would call it more of a Post Project Apathy. But even through this time at home where things are not always rainbows and butterflies, I have been learning things about myself that I would never have noticed without my time in Ocean City.
In order to make the procedure of processing as simple as possible, I am just going to make a list of the things that I learned. I like lists, and I hope you do too. Let's begin:
1. Community has so much potential to point people to Christ, but it begins with initiative. The community this summer was incredible. It was amazing how quickly we began talking about our deepest darkest secrets and reminding each other what grace looks like. It was amazing how we surrounded each other with love during hard times and laughed with each other during easier times. But there were times this summer where I felt dissatisfied with the community. I know...shocking. And one thing that I wish I had done more was take initiative. Take the initiative to ask someone to hang out one-on-one or go sharing or talk about things more meaningful than the weather. One of the best times of authentic community that I had was when a couple of guys spontaneously decided to plan a group quiet time where a group of us read a passage in the Bible and then discussed it. This was not planned by the project, but it was a sweet time of community and pointing each other toward Christ, and it all started when a couple of guys took initiative. This can happen at Northwestern, I just need to take initiative. Anyways, I could write a whole blogpost on this, but I have more points to make.
2. I need to remind myself of the gospel so badly. It is so easy for me to fall into the mindset of thinking I need to perform for God. It is so easy for me to feel guilty when I fall. Jesus died for that part of me. The law is my delight, and I have been freed from the chains of sin. I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ because I have put my faith in Him. I am forgiven.
3. I am really selfish. I almost always pursue my own wants and desires, even subconsciously. I want to put myself first, I want to make myself comfortable, and I want others to notice me. This is the essence of my sin. Almost all of my sin. I idolize myself and want to serve myself in whatever way possible. I have a hard time thinking of myself as a living sacrifice. But that is what I am. And if it came down to it, I would be willing to count myself as absolutely nothing for the sake of Christ. I think. It is really hard.
4. I am really bad at making time for God. The end of the summer got really busy for me. As the leadership team duties began to pile up and work at McDonald's continued on as normal, I began to have less and less free time. It often seemed I had two ways to fill this free time: have a quiet time or hang out with people. As my time in Ocean City winded down, it became easier and easier to convince myself to spend my spare moments investing in other people. While it was loads of fun, it took a toll on my relationship with God.
5. I really enjoy leading people. Maybe I just love control. But I think that it is one of my strengths, and I love being able to serve people by leading them and (hopefully) pointing them to Christ.
6. I loved giving my talk. It was probably my favorite part of the summer. For those of you who don't know, I had a chance to give a talk to the whole project on Isaiah 6:1-8. Ask me about it, I would love to explain more.
7. One thing that I've been realizing in this past week at home is that my fear of God is so little. I think that I take my forgiveness and promised salvation for granted. I rarely think of what God has saved me from and what wrath I deserve that he has chosen to pour out on his Son instead of me. This is something that I am still processing through right now. But fear of the Lord is a big deal and I want to grow a lot in this area.
There is still more, but that is all I can think of now. Thanks for reading.
I'd love prayers for my time back home. I've still got three weeks or so, and it is going to be kind of lonely. Please pray that I will be using my time to dive into God's Word and prayer. Pray that I will have strong community with the couple of guys from Northwestern who live near me. Pray that I will find all of my satisfaction in Him. Pray that I will not be comfortable where I am.
Also, I love questions! Feel free to shoot away!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
A Poop Story
Before today, I had worked the lobby at McDonald's once. You know, the person who sweeps, wipes down tables, and keeps the restaurant pretty. But I did not enjoy it one bit. I'm a cashier, not a lobby attendant, so I feel out of my element. Well...today I worked the lobby for the second time since I began working at McDonald's. And my experience was quite different. I would actually describe it as really good. When you begin to read the rest of this post, you might think I'm being sarcastic, but I promise I'm not. Bear with me.
I came into work at 11, and right away they told me that I would be on lobby duty for the day. For a split second I wasn't pleased, but I quickly reminded myself that I am not working this job to please myself or to please my employers. I am working this job for God's glory. So that was my attitude for the day: I am working for God.
About a half hour into my shift, I end my first round of cleaning by checking the bathroom. It was relatively early in the day, so I wasn't expecting much of a mess. Mirrors and sinks? Look good. Urinal? Fairly clean. First stall? Not bad at all. Second stall? My heart just about dropped to my feet. The handle was broken, and there was poop in the toilet. But I'm not talking just a little log and a bit of toilet paper. I swear three people pooped in the toilet and filled it with toilet paper. It was as gross as the image that is in your head right now. Trust me. But as my eyes catch their first glance of this catastrophe, my first question was why. Why did these people poop when there was already poop in the toilet? Why were they so stupid? Then I think to myself: maybe if I ignore it, I will get off at five before anyone notices. So I just ignored it. (By the way, that's five and a half hours of nobody noticing a massive amount of poop)
That was around 11:30. We had a lunch rush that began soon after my bathroom check that lasted until 1:30. I was busy enough wiping down tables that I wouldn't have even been allowed to leave the floor to clean bathrooms. So far so good.
As things began to die down around 2, I was sweeping when a lady came over to me. She seemed relatively innocent. She was probably asking where the ketchup was, or maybe one of the soda machines was out of ice. "I threw up a little bit over there." Oh. Wow. Ok. Wasn't expecting that. I go and grab the mop, and thankfully when I return she had wiped up most of the damage. But the smell remained. You know the smell. Relive it with me. Once the wall of vomit odor passed me, I mopped up the rest of the mess, and it ended up being a fairly harmless experience.
But then an old friend came knocking. You guessed it, the poop sitting in stall #2.
Someone finally complained about the bathroom, so it was time to work up the courage to clean it. I walked over to my manager, Christine, and said, "There's a....uh....mess in the men's room, and I have no idea how to go about cleaning it. Oh, and the handle for the toilet is broken." I thought maybe throwing in the broken handle would prompt her to call a plumber and spare me the cleaning duty.
"You're gonna have to put on some gloves and scoop it out into a bag. Sorry"
The moment had arrived. The words I was dreading the whole day finally were spoken. For a moment I considered the possibility of running away. They probably couldn't catch me, right? I laughed in disbelief. I was going to have poop and toilet water all over my hands. Well...all over my gloves. But still it was gross.
I arm myself for battle and confidently strut into the bathroom. I walk over to the toilet, and before I could think too much, hold my breath and start scooping. It was nasty. I'll spare you the details. But I remained sane because I couldn't smell it. So I just imagined that I was scooping Play-Doh or mud. But about halfway through I made the mistake of breathing. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks and, the fact that I was not actually scooping Play-Doh or mud became reality. I did everything in my power to keep myself from making the mess twice as bad (if you know what I mean). As I composed myself, I finally finished the job.
I deposited the excrements in the dumpster and returned to a pool of brown water. I put on a new pair of gloves, and did my best plumber impersonation. I took a look at the handle and after a couple of minutes of finagling, I was able to fix it. It was as good as new. So I flushed the rest down, threw my gloves in the trash, washed my hands 35 times, and proudly told my manager that I had not only saved our customers from having one toilet to poop in but had also fixed the handle.
I had two jobs that I would never have asked to do, but I had one of the best days at work.
This past week, I've been really convicted about how selfish I am. My thoughts revolve around me. My desires revolve around me. My actions revolve around me. The last time I worked in the lobby, God really used it to begin the process of seeing my selfishness for what it really is. The whole time I was complaining to myself about how much I hated the job and how much I would rather do other things.
It was so pivotal to remind myself at the beginning of my shift that I am working for the glory of God. My whole attitude was different. I was joyful. I was singing along to the radio. I wasn't complaining to myself. Sure, it wasn't fun to clean poop or vomit, but as I was doing it, I couldn't help but laugh and be happy. It was strange.
This life is not about myself. Summer Project is not about myself. My time at school is not about myself. My job is not about myself. It is all about giving glory to a God who has shown us the greatest love we will ever know. Let us do everything for Him.
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10:31
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
My Project Role!
For those of you who don't know, during each year at Ocean City Summer Project the staff who are leading it leave halfway through the summer and hand the reins over to the students. The students take over every single position that the staff had and have complete control over what direction we take the summer. This is a really exciting opportunity, but at the same time really sad that we have to say goodbye to the staff so early.
With that being said, this is the staff's last week here and they assigned us our jobs this past week. My role for the summer will be Project Director of the Servant Team. I am on the Student Leadership team with 3 other men and 4 women. Now to many of you, these titles mean absolutely nothing, so I will do my best to describe the role. The Student Leadership team is composed of the students who will be planning the entirety of the rest of project. We are in the process right now of planning the last five weeks of project in only a week. As PD of the Servant Team, my role is to oversee a lot of the different committee directors (other students) and to serve them and lead them to the best of my ability. Thankfully, there is a female counterpart to my role who is one of my good friends from Northwestern, Priscilla Liu. I'm really excited to be working with her.
I need a lot of prayer. I am feeling really overwhelmed right now with the responsibility placed on me in trying to lead so many people when I don't even see myself as more mature spiritually. Specifically for this week, I am overwhelmed with how much we have to get done in planning the rest of project. I'm feeling more and more inadequate as I learn more about what I do. I am even experiencing a good amount of worry and anxiety knowing that the decisions we make will have an immense impact on how project finishes. On top of that, I'm struggling with the fact that some people are upset with their roles and some people may be upset I was chosen for the leadership team. Please pray that I would find my sufficiency in Christ and that I would boast in my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. Please pray for creativity and vision as the Student Leadership Team plans the rest of summer. Please pray that all the students on project would remain united in Christ and not be divided by our roles. Pray that I will not worry or have anxiety, that I would rest in the peace and comfort of Christ. Pray that my desires would not be to satisfy the perishable needs of man but to serve the Creator of the Universe.
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your prayers.
With that being said, this is the staff's last week here and they assigned us our jobs this past week. My role for the summer will be Project Director of the Servant Team. I am on the Student Leadership team with 3 other men and 4 women. Now to many of you, these titles mean absolutely nothing, so I will do my best to describe the role. The Student Leadership team is composed of the students who will be planning the entirety of the rest of project. We are in the process right now of planning the last five weeks of project in only a week. As PD of the Servant Team, my role is to oversee a lot of the different committee directors (other students) and to serve them and lead them to the best of my ability. Thankfully, there is a female counterpart to my role who is one of my good friends from Northwestern, Priscilla Liu. I'm really excited to be working with her.
I need a lot of prayer. I am feeling really overwhelmed right now with the responsibility placed on me in trying to lead so many people when I don't even see myself as more mature spiritually. Specifically for this week, I am overwhelmed with how much we have to get done in planning the rest of project. I'm feeling more and more inadequate as I learn more about what I do. I am even experiencing a good amount of worry and anxiety knowing that the decisions we make will have an immense impact on how project finishes. On top of that, I'm struggling with the fact that some people are upset with their roles and some people may be upset I was chosen for the leadership team. Please pray that I would find my sufficiency in Christ and that I would boast in my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. Please pray for creativity and vision as the Student Leadership Team plans the rest of summer. Please pray that all the students on project would remain united in Christ and not be divided by our roles. Pray that I will not worry or have anxiety, that I would rest in the peace and comfort of Christ. Pray that my desires would not be to satisfy the perishable needs of man but to serve the Creator of the Universe.
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your prayers.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
An Overdue Update
Wow. So much has happened in these past few weeks, and I have had no time to sit down and write an update. But it has all been good. I apologize, though, so I will try my best to keep you up to date on what has happened.
So I talked briefly about Killing the Giants week in my last post, and that week has come and gone. We all set number goals for how many people we wanted to trust God with that we would have conversations for the week. This number was one of the "giants" that we were trying to kill. A giant basically being something that is hard to overcome, but that we wanted trust God's ability to overcome it. In trying not to be obsessed with numbers though, I set another giant of going out sharing every day of the week. It was so incredibly stretching, but I was able to kill that giant! But praise God because it was so tiring and would have been nearly impossible to do out of my own effort. As a group, we initiated over 5100 conversations during the week and had over 90 people indicate that they wanted to put their faith in Christ. Pretty awesome stuff.
We went from being very outward focused during Killing the Giants week to being very inward focused for this past week: All For One week. This was basically a week in challenging our view of what it means to live in Biblical community and stretch us to desire true Biblical fellowship. We faced many challenges throughout the week that we had to come together as a team to overcome. For example, one morning we were only allowed to have one person use an alarm clock to wake up. This person would then have to wake up the next person that needed to wake up, who would then wake up the next person, and so on and so forth. This was on a weekday, which meant most people really needed to wake up for work, and living in a house with 35 guys did not leave us with the easiest task. But we really trusted each other, did some planning the night before, and in the end we were successful in getting everyone up on time. Another amazing time during the week was Men's Conference, which was on Wednesday night. I can't go into too many details about it, but it was physically exhausting, relationally challenging, and spiritually stretching. The guys really came together to pull through the evening as one, and it was a powerful display of our community.
The week culminated in a student vs. staff softball game yesterday, which was a blast. The students lost (and apparently they have lost like 14 years in a row), but it was a lot of fun after a week of growing as a community. There are 105 students (or something like that), so everyone batted once and got to play the field once or twice. But the game was so much bigger than winning or losing, so I was totally satisfied after the game, despite losing.
As probably all of you know, I have also been working at McDonald's these past few weeks as a cashier. Overall, it has been a good experience. I had a hard time finally settling with working at the golden arches, but after choosing it, I felt really at peace in my decision. Working there has been fun at times and stressful at times. There are a good number of other Cru people that work there, so that has been really cool. However, one thing that I've really struggled with is ministry in the workplace. Pretty much everyday we are really busy, and there is not much time to talk to anyone about anything, nonetheless spiritual things. This has been hard on me because my biggest fear in taking the job at McDonald's was that ministry would be more difficult.
Also, I mentioned in my last update that I was going to be leading worship. I actually have had the opportunity to do it twice already, and I absolutely love it. I have really seen my passion for singing grow this past year, and it is so cool to be able to use the gift that God has given me to worship Him. It is definitely a time commitment, but it is totally worth it.
Please pray:
- That everyone here would continue to strive for more Biblical community, and that we wouldn't settle for just pretty good
- For opportunities to talk about spiritual things at work, and specifically opportunities to share the gospel
- For this coming week: World Vision Week. That God would continue to grow my heart for the world and for people who don't know Him
- That God would continue to shape my heart, reveal my sin to me, and sanctify me. That I would continually be pointed to the cross.
Enjoy some pictures from my week!
If you have any questions about how I am doing or specific questions about what we are doing, I would love to answer them! Post a comment, email me, or Facebook me.
So I talked briefly about Killing the Giants week in my last post, and that week has come and gone. We all set number goals for how many people we wanted to trust God with that we would have conversations for the week. This number was one of the "giants" that we were trying to kill. A giant basically being something that is hard to overcome, but that we wanted trust God's ability to overcome it. In trying not to be obsessed with numbers though, I set another giant of going out sharing every day of the week. It was so incredibly stretching, but I was able to kill that giant! But praise God because it was so tiring and would have been nearly impossible to do out of my own effort. As a group, we initiated over 5100 conversations during the week and had over 90 people indicate that they wanted to put their faith in Christ. Pretty awesome stuff.
We went from being very outward focused during Killing the Giants week to being very inward focused for this past week: All For One week. This was basically a week in challenging our view of what it means to live in Biblical community and stretch us to desire true Biblical fellowship. We faced many challenges throughout the week that we had to come together as a team to overcome. For example, one morning we were only allowed to have one person use an alarm clock to wake up. This person would then have to wake up the next person that needed to wake up, who would then wake up the next person, and so on and so forth. This was on a weekday, which meant most people really needed to wake up for work, and living in a house with 35 guys did not leave us with the easiest task. But we really trusted each other, did some planning the night before, and in the end we were successful in getting everyone up on time. Another amazing time during the week was Men's Conference, which was on Wednesday night. I can't go into too many details about it, but it was physically exhausting, relationally challenging, and spiritually stretching. The guys really came together to pull through the evening as one, and it was a powerful display of our community.
The week culminated in a student vs. staff softball game yesterday, which was a blast. The students lost (and apparently they have lost like 14 years in a row), but it was a lot of fun after a week of growing as a community. There are 105 students (or something like that), so everyone batted once and got to play the field once or twice. But the game was so much bigger than winning or losing, so I was totally satisfied after the game, despite losing.
As probably all of you know, I have also been working at McDonald's these past few weeks as a cashier. Overall, it has been a good experience. I had a hard time finally settling with working at the golden arches, but after choosing it, I felt really at peace in my decision. Working there has been fun at times and stressful at times. There are a good number of other Cru people that work there, so that has been really cool. However, one thing that I've really struggled with is ministry in the workplace. Pretty much everyday we are really busy, and there is not much time to talk to anyone about anything, nonetheless spiritual things. This has been hard on me because my biggest fear in taking the job at McDonald's was that ministry would be more difficult.
Also, I mentioned in my last update that I was going to be leading worship. I actually have had the opportunity to do it twice already, and I absolutely love it. I have really seen my passion for singing grow this past year, and it is so cool to be able to use the gift that God has given me to worship Him. It is definitely a time commitment, but it is totally worth it.
Please pray:
- That everyone here would continue to strive for more Biblical community, and that we wouldn't settle for just pretty good
- For opportunities to talk about spiritual things at work, and specifically opportunities to share the gospel
- For this coming week: World Vision Week. That God would continue to grow my heart for the world and for people who don't know Him
- That God would continue to shape my heart, reveal my sin to me, and sanctify me. That I would continually be pointed to the cross.
Enjoy some pictures from my week!
I had a cool chance to go to a Philadelphia Phillies game with my "adopted" dad! It was...a bit awkward...but I had a good time!
A couple of friends and I after the Student vs. Staff Softball game!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Three New Beginnings
Three new exciting things happened in the past couple of days that I would love to fill you in on!
1. I started working at McDonald's, and I actually had a lot of fun. A ton of people from Cru work at McDonald's so working with some of them was fun, but I think that I had even more fun getting to push buttons on the register. Or maybe I'm just easily amused. Most guys who are working at McDonald's are behind the scenes grilling in the kitchen, but I'm up front working the cash register with all of the women. I'm fine with it because the grill is hot, and they all get sweaty and crabby. But I've been taking a lot of flack from a certain friend from Northwestern who shared a room with me this past year (I don't want to reveal too much about him/her!) that I'm not manly enough to work a grill. But you know what they say...sticks and stones can break my bones...something like that.
2. Today marks the first day of the infamous "Killing the Giants" week! It is basically a week were everyone on the summer project sets huge goals, and we try and go all out for reaching our goal. It is exciting but extremely scary. I am certainly nervous, but I think more than that I am hesitant. There is a big emphasis on numbers, which I am not a huge fan of. During our discussion for the week to come, our project director asked what the purpose of setting goals in life was. This was in regards to academics or athletics, not necessarily evangelism. But someone said it gives us purpose, and this is the exact thing that I am trying to avoid this week. I don't want the numbers to be our purpose, and I don't want to compromise awesome conversations for reaching a number. I think the staff is doing a really good job, though, of emphasizing the fact that each number is a person with an eternal destination. I guess in some ways I'm worried that I will be so against legalism that it will lead to apathy. For example, since I don't want to feel guilty about not reaching a certain number, I will instead by lazy since my motivations weren't good. But my motivations will most likely never be perfect, so I just need to continue and take steps of faith all week. I really do think this has a ton of potential to be an amazing week. Please be praying for this whole week.
3. So I auditioned to sing for the worship band last week, which was a huge step of faith for me. A ton of people don't even know that I sing, and I have never sung in front of more than like 30 people. At this point in my life, I'm more comfortable standing in front of a group of people in my underwear than singing (maybe not). Taking steps of faith is not about being comfortable though. But anyway, I guess I made it because I have my first worship practice tonight, and I'm singing for the weekly meeting tomorrow night. I'm super excited. Over this past year, I've really started to discover a passion for singing, so it is awesome to use this passion for the glory of God. Pray that my voice doesn't crack. And that I will be focused on worshipping Jesus, not on the people watching me.
1. I started working at McDonald's, and I actually had a lot of fun. A ton of people from Cru work at McDonald's so working with some of them was fun, but I think that I had even more fun getting to push buttons on the register. Or maybe I'm just easily amused. Most guys who are working at McDonald's are behind the scenes grilling in the kitchen, but I'm up front working the cash register with all of the women. I'm fine with it because the grill is hot, and they all get sweaty and crabby. But I've been taking a lot of flack from a certain friend from Northwestern who shared a room with me this past year (I don't want to reveal too much about him/her!) that I'm not manly enough to work a grill. But you know what they say...sticks and stones can break my bones...something like that.
2. Today marks the first day of the infamous "Killing the Giants" week! It is basically a week were everyone on the summer project sets huge goals, and we try and go all out for reaching our goal. It is exciting but extremely scary. I am certainly nervous, but I think more than that I am hesitant. There is a big emphasis on numbers, which I am not a huge fan of. During our discussion for the week to come, our project director asked what the purpose of setting goals in life was. This was in regards to academics or athletics, not necessarily evangelism. But someone said it gives us purpose, and this is the exact thing that I am trying to avoid this week. I don't want the numbers to be our purpose, and I don't want to compromise awesome conversations for reaching a number. I think the staff is doing a really good job, though, of emphasizing the fact that each number is a person with an eternal destination. I guess in some ways I'm worried that I will be so against legalism that it will lead to apathy. For example, since I don't want to feel guilty about not reaching a certain number, I will instead by lazy since my motivations weren't good. But my motivations will most likely never be perfect, so I just need to continue and take steps of faith all week. I really do think this has a ton of potential to be an amazing week. Please be praying for this whole week.
3. So I auditioned to sing for the worship band last week, which was a huge step of faith for me. A ton of people don't even know that I sing, and I have never sung in front of more than like 30 people. At this point in my life, I'm more comfortable standing in front of a group of people in my underwear than singing (maybe not). Taking steps of faith is not about being comfortable though. But anyway, I guess I made it because I have my first worship practice tonight, and I'm singing for the weekly meeting tomorrow night. I'm super excited. Over this past year, I've really started to discover a passion for singing, so it is awesome to use this passion for the glory of God. Pray that my voice doesn't crack. And that I will be focused on worshipping Jesus, not on the people watching me.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Outreach, Roger Hershey, Adoption, and the Week to Come
This past Saturday night, I was able to participate in my first outreach as an entire project. All 90 of us or so, in our college t-shirts, hit the boardwalk with the intentions of sharing our faith in conversations with random people that we meet. Usually when I share my faith I get really nervous and kind of dread going out, but so far this project I've been out three times, and each time I have found myself really getting joy from these conversations. This particular outreach, the conversations were not that great, but I found myself excited to have the opportunity to share the love of Jesus that has changed my life so much. This has been an answer to prayer for sure, so if you could pray that I would continue to get joy from this and have a desire to share my faith.
Today, we had the awesome privilege to hear Roger Hershey speak twice and also get to spend some time with him. Before church, he talked about being a world Christian no matter what our occupation is or what we do with our life. After church, we all went to play beach volleyball, and the Hersh came with us. Not a big deal. He was actually really good. This is a guy in his 60's playing with a bunch of college students, and he totally held his own. Then at night, he spoke again on discerning God's will. This was really awesome. My roommate and I have processed through a lot of this stuff throughout this past quarter, and it was awesome to hear Biblical confirmation of a lot of the conclusions that we also thought were Biblical.
Right before the Hershinator spoke, we were "adopted" by families in the church that we attend while on project. Basically, this is where the family takes a couple of students on project out for dinner or does laundry. It is really nice of these families to do this and kind of welcome us into the community. Most people have a couple of "brothers" and "sisters" from project, so that they can do everything with the family together. I, on the other hand, am an only child. Yeah. My adopted "father's" name is Arnie, and he is a single man in his 70's probably. He actually is a really awesome guy and we had a nice conversation. I just envision getting dinner with him once a week kind of awkward. But he offered to do all of my laundry for me. I think that will make it all worth it.
This coming week, all of the quarter students have orientation during the day since this is our first full week. During the nights though, our schedule will be pretty consistent for the rest of the trip. Here is what it looks like:
Monday - Large Group Meeting
Tuesday - "Date Night With Jesus" (basically a quiet time for a couple of hours)
Wednesday - Action Group (Bible study with three other guys)
Thursday - Large Group Meeting
Friday - Free Night
Saturday - Outreach (like the one we had last night)
Sunday - Varied
I'm really excited to have structure for this coming week. Being able to do whatever I want this past week was really fun, and it offered a lot of opportunities to hang out with people, but I love structure. I love knowing what's coming next.
I think it will be an awesome week.
Please pray:
- That I won't be anxious or worried about being accepted, but continue to strive for growth in my relationship with Christ and peace to allow the rest to follow.
- That we will see people put their faith in Christ and that He will change hearts
- For opportunities to develop relationships at McDonald's
And please let me know if I can be praying for you in anyway! I really appreciate you all taking the time to read this and pray for me. I honestly believe that it is making a huge difference/
Today, we had the awesome privilege to hear Roger Hershey speak twice and also get to spend some time with him. Before church, he talked about being a world Christian no matter what our occupation is or what we do with our life. After church, we all went to play beach volleyball, and the Hersh came with us. Not a big deal. He was actually really good. This is a guy in his 60's playing with a bunch of college students, and he totally held his own. Then at night, he spoke again on discerning God's will. This was really awesome. My roommate and I have processed through a lot of this stuff throughout this past quarter, and it was awesome to hear Biblical confirmation of a lot of the conclusions that we also thought were Biblical.
Right before the Hershinator spoke, we were "adopted" by families in the church that we attend while on project. Basically, this is where the family takes a couple of students on project out for dinner or does laundry. It is really nice of these families to do this and kind of welcome us into the community. Most people have a couple of "brothers" and "sisters" from project, so that they can do everything with the family together. I, on the other hand, am an only child. Yeah. My adopted "father's" name is Arnie, and he is a single man in his 70's probably. He actually is a really awesome guy and we had a nice conversation. I just envision getting dinner with him once a week kind of awkward. But he offered to do all of my laundry for me. I think that will make it all worth it.
This coming week, all of the quarter students have orientation during the day since this is our first full week. During the nights though, our schedule will be pretty consistent for the rest of the trip. Here is what it looks like:
Monday - Large Group Meeting
Tuesday - "Date Night With Jesus" (basically a quiet time for a couple of hours)
Wednesday - Action Group (Bible study with three other guys)
Thursday - Large Group Meeting
Friday - Free Night
Saturday - Outreach (like the one we had last night)
Sunday - Varied
I'm really excited to have structure for this coming week. Being able to do whatever I want this past week was really fun, and it offered a lot of opportunities to hang out with people, but I love structure. I love knowing what's coming next.
I think it will be an awesome week.
Please pray:
- That I won't be anxious or worried about being accepted, but continue to strive for growth in my relationship with Christ and peace to allow the rest to follow.
- That we will see people put their faith in Christ and that He will change hearts
- For opportunities to develop relationships at McDonald's
And please let me know if I can be praying for you in anyway! I really appreciate you all taking the time to read this and pray for me. I honestly believe that it is making a huge difference/
Saturday, June 9, 2012
I've got a job!
Since I arrived on Wednesday, there hasn't been much to do. A lot of the students here already have jobs, so they are working during the day, and since I arrived early, my orientation doesn't start until Monday. That has left me plenty of time to look for a job.
When I was thinking about the ideal job, I wanted somewhere that would give me a good amount of hours. This is pretty self-explanatory. I wanted to be able to make money this summer, and I wanted to have enough hours where I could actually develop relationships with my coworkers. This was not my first priority, but it was important.
I wanted to work on the boardwalk. Most of the places on the boardwalk are relatively close, and they have amazing views right outside the door. Pretty selfish, but whatever.
I wanted somewhere that I could get a discounted lunch, so probably somewhere that serves food. We are on our own for lunch everyday, so it would have been nice to not have to make my lunch and still eat cheap. I could buy groceries, but that sounded like too much work. Pretty selfish too, but whatever.
Most important to me, though, was that I do not work with people also on project with me. I know myself inside and out, and if I work with project people I will just be hanging out with them having a jolly old time. I would never talk to my coworkers.
So I begin to apply for jobs. I apply to a couple places on the boardwalk, mainly places where I know my friends who were also quarter students worked in the past. I sent out my applications, and as a safety net I went to McDonald's. A lot of people work at McDonald's, and some people earlier in the day said they went in, talked to the manager, and walked out with a job. But I didn't want to work at McDonald's. Sure it would have cheap lunch, but it wasn't on the boardwalk, I didn't know how many hours I could be guaranteed, and TONS of project people work there.
So I walk in to McDonald's, start filling out an application, and while I'm in the process of filling it out, the manager offers me and three other people a job. Without even glancing at our applications.
But I didn't want to work at McDonald's. This all happened on Wednesday, and I had until Friday to decide. So I said to myself, "Keep looking as hard as you can, and you will be able to find a job. Just follow up your applications hard." I don't know if you caught that, but I was relying almost solely on my own logic and my own power.
Friday rolls around and I still don't have another offer. However, I prayed for guidance and wisdom on Thursday night, and asked that God help me rely on His strength and reasoning for this search. During the morning, I send out a text to some people who came on project last year asking to give me some wisdom. I figured they would know better than me. I also talked to my discipler.
What I heard from them really humbled me. Almost all of them told me to take the job at McDonald's. BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO! That is not what I had planned for my Ocean City experience. I mean it wouldn't be horrible, but surely this was not the way I wanted it to go. Then a friend asked me a question about me turning down McDonald's: "Is He saying no or is Danny saying no?"
Dang, it was definitely me saying no.
Also, if you remember before, I was talking about how well I know myself. I thought that I would be super fly at a job without other project people. But then some other friends brought up the benefits of having other people at the same job hold you accountable. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I would actually need that. At other jobs, it would be so easy to shy away from spiritual conversations and have nobody know about it.
Dang, I thought I knew myself.
This was a very humbling lesson of surrendering control to God. He is going to have His way, which sounds bossy and selfish. But that is amazing thing about love. He loves us so much that He makes it all work out for our good. So no matter what I think is better or safer for me, I can surrender that to Him because He knows infinitely more than me. Infinitely. Still trying to wrap my head around that.
So, yes, I'm working at McDonald's! And I actually feel really good about it.
When I was thinking about the ideal job, I wanted somewhere that would give me a good amount of hours. This is pretty self-explanatory. I wanted to be able to make money this summer, and I wanted to have enough hours where I could actually develop relationships with my coworkers. This was not my first priority, but it was important.
I wanted to work on the boardwalk. Most of the places on the boardwalk are relatively close, and they have amazing views right outside the door. Pretty selfish, but whatever.
I wanted somewhere that I could get a discounted lunch, so probably somewhere that serves food. We are on our own for lunch everyday, so it would have been nice to not have to make my lunch and still eat cheap. I could buy groceries, but that sounded like too much work. Pretty selfish too, but whatever.
Most important to me, though, was that I do not work with people also on project with me. I know myself inside and out, and if I work with project people I will just be hanging out with them having a jolly old time. I would never talk to my coworkers.
So I begin to apply for jobs. I apply to a couple places on the boardwalk, mainly places where I know my friends who were also quarter students worked in the past. I sent out my applications, and as a safety net I went to McDonald's. A lot of people work at McDonald's, and some people earlier in the day said they went in, talked to the manager, and walked out with a job. But I didn't want to work at McDonald's. Sure it would have cheap lunch, but it wasn't on the boardwalk, I didn't know how many hours I could be guaranteed, and TONS of project people work there.
So I walk in to McDonald's, start filling out an application, and while I'm in the process of filling it out, the manager offers me and three other people a job. Without even glancing at our applications.
But I didn't want to work at McDonald's. This all happened on Wednesday, and I had until Friday to decide. So I said to myself, "Keep looking as hard as you can, and you will be able to find a job. Just follow up your applications hard." I don't know if you caught that, but I was relying almost solely on my own logic and my own power.
Friday rolls around and I still don't have another offer. However, I prayed for guidance and wisdom on Thursday night, and asked that God help me rely on His strength and reasoning for this search. During the morning, I send out a text to some people who came on project last year asking to give me some wisdom. I figured they would know better than me. I also talked to my discipler.
What I heard from them really humbled me. Almost all of them told me to take the job at McDonald's. BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO! That is not what I had planned for my Ocean City experience. I mean it wouldn't be horrible, but surely this was not the way I wanted it to go. Then a friend asked me a question about me turning down McDonald's: "Is He saying no or is Danny saying no?"
Dang, it was definitely me saying no.
Also, if you remember before, I was talking about how well I know myself. I thought that I would be super fly at a job without other project people. But then some other friends brought up the benefits of having other people at the same job hold you accountable. The more I thought about it, the more I realized how much I would actually need that. At other jobs, it would be so easy to shy away from spiritual conversations and have nobody know about it.
Dang, I thought I knew myself.
This was a very humbling lesson of surrendering control to God. He is going to have His way, which sounds bossy and selfish. But that is amazing thing about love. He loves us so much that He makes it all work out for our good. So no matter what I think is better or safer for me, I can surrender that to Him because He knows infinitely more than me. Infinitely. Still trying to wrap my head around that.
So, yes, I'm working at McDonald's! And I actually feel really good about it.
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