update, while listening to a little classical music

We took a little break from Paul's letters and spent a few weeks with Jesus going through Mark and Luke. This week we had a little time with the Holy Spirit studying through the book of Acts. I have never worked this hard at anything in my life. I spend anywhere from 8-12 hours studying six days a week! I have never enjoyed Sundays (my day off) this much! Surprisingly even though the hours are long and the temperature is dropping, God continues to increase my appetite for his word. I am learning a whole new spiritual discipline. My whole life I have equated study with academics; but God is teaching me that study can be spiritual and that I can use the scriptures as a gateway to interact with him. God is using his word to refine me, shape me, and train me for life now and for what lays ahead in the future.

It is amazing to have the opportunity to be studying at this mission’s base. Since I have been here we have commissioned and sent off at least one "mission’s team" each week! It is so healthy to be reminded while I’m studying that my work is not for myself, for others. God is investing in me, so that I may invest into others. God is teaching me, so that I may teach others. God is revealing himself to me, so that I may reveal him to others. A prayer that I have been continually asking God is, "Lord I want to love the things you love and hate the things you hate." Through this prayer and pouring over scripture I have started to realize that only two things in life are of value and consequently are eternal; God and people. I want to encourage you and remind you that the things that our culture strives after so hard; money, possessions, homes, Jobs, etc, are here today and gone tomorrow. But people, the only thing God really cares about on this earth, have eternal value!