Sound familiar? This is my mission verse, and hopefully this blog will help you better understand why!
If there is one thing God is teaching me through the beginning process of this mission trip is that He is in control, and He is willing to let me see His hand in anything if I choose to have faith and open my eyes! God made it pretty clear that He wanted me to go to Idaho, but it is a completely different ballpark trying to figure out what He wants me to do while I am there! Keith and I flew up to Boise a couple of months back to start scouting out the area and get a feel of what God wants our purpose to be. Now I must say, but throughout this entire ordeal, I had not been nervous...until I got to Boise. As we pulled in the city and were driving to Gail's house, the seemingly overwhelming task that lay before me started to shatter the confidence I had in what I was doing. I had no doubt that I am led to be here, but once again figuring out what to do is another task entirely. Keith helped me fight threw those feelings several times through the course of the trip, but they were still so evident and frightening as we spent more time in the city and on campus.
(Tangent). It never really occurred to me how amazingly privileged I was to live in Lubbock, Texas. I was surrounded by strong Christian friends and opportunities to find a bible believing church and college ministry basically everywhere I turned my head. It came as a real shock to me that not everybody shares these blessings. There are Christians in Boise, no doubt. But from what I have heard and what I have seen, it is nothing like what we have in the bible belt. But don't worry! Jesus wants people to know Him, and He will use people who are willing and responsive to His call to fulfill His desires, already He has started doing things :)
As Keith and I spent time with the pastors of the very small baptist churches in Boise over those next few days, I could feel there desire for this treasure valley area (Boise, Meridian, etc) to know Christ and have a relationship with Him. It is so awesome to see that kind of faith. But as we ate lunch, those fears began to return. I mean come on, this is a daunting task! Starting a Baptist Collegiate Ministry in an area where I know hardly anyone, or anything about the city! I am going to have to walk up to complete strangers and share my faith every day. I am going to have to start conversations and find leaders in a campus of 20,000 students. How can I do this? I am good at talking to people but this is crazy! I have been thrown into the deep end of the pool, with a shallow faith. What if I fail? What if everyone thinks I am crazy? What if I lose my faith because I become so disheartened?
Satan sure knows how to distract you from the truth doesn't he?
But my God is truth, and He doesn't stand to the side for long when His children need some truth to push on.
These questions and concerns would come up over and over again, but God loved me enough to reveal Himself to me as He usually does, through His Word. I woke up at about 5 in the morning the third day we were there and reflected on the task before me. I couldn't go back to sleep so I pulled out my iPhone and started reading the Bible on it. When you need wisdom, it always is nice to go to the book of wisdom, Proverbs. As I love to say, "A proverb a day keeps the devil at bay." As I am reading through I find this verse. "Acknowledge Him in all your ways, and He will make your paths straight."- Proverbs 3:6. It is like those words jumped off the page and formed a barrier around my heart that Satan cannot penetrate. God revealed that as long as He is in the center of everything I do, I cannot fail. Does that mean that everything is going to turn out like I plan? No. Does that mean life is going to be a breeze? No. I think alot of people fall into that trap of thinking when you trust God everything is going to turn out fine and dandy, and that is rarely the case. The Christian life is hard, but if you trust God and look to Him, He will take care of you and shape you through it.
Before going on campus the next day, we went up to a mountain overlooking all of Boise and the treasure valley. There is a giant cross up there and Christians will often come to pray over the city. Keith, Gail, and I spent about 30 minutes doing exactly what that verse teaches, praying and acknowledging God's sovereignty over that day. We prayed that God would put someone in our path who we could tell about what we were doing and try to get them involved, we prayed for the student athletes to use their pedestal to share Christ and to build relationships with them, we prayed for too many more to name, and then we went to work. Now I must say, prayer is not always answered immediately or the way you expect, but when it does so happen it is an awesome thing to witness.
As we walked down into campus we saw a huge, green, monster truck that so happened to have a Texas license plate on it parked in the student parking. We chuckled amongst ourselves and discussed how appropriate it was that it was from Texas. As Keith was walking through the SUB, he noticed a guy with a huge Texas belt buckle and started a conversation with him. I stopped by later and got a chance to share what I was there for and asked if he would be interested in checking out our new ministry. He said sure, we exchanged information, and went on our way. Pretty cool huh?
Later that day we went to a basketball game with some of Gail's friends and I got to meet there son who goes to Boise State University,and works with the football team, and he also expressed some interest in checking out the ministry. So another prayer was answered because Jake has already helped establish some connections with the athletic program at Boise State since then and helped us get involved with a coaches' bible study every Wednesday. It is so awesome to see how God is working already! Does this mean that these people are going to become involved in the ministry and God is going to shower blessings from them, who knows? God is so good. He reveals what He needs to reveal in His perfect time and it is up to us to acknowledge Him and go along for the ride.
I hope you enjoyed this blog and it is my prayer that more awesome things will happen so that I may share them with you and encourage you in your own walk with Christ! Keep praying please!
SpreadtheWord
Phillip
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