Endless Summer Missions
The Summers Family: Missionary Associates to the PhilippinesArchive for religion
Do I Pray like this? I want to everyday…
Lord, make an instrument of your peace.
When there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master; Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
A Big Day
Today was a very big day. We did something we have never done before.
We formally resigned from youth ministry at Dakota Ridge Assembly.
We have known this day would someday come. We didn’t know how, or when, or why, but now we do.
We are so excited about what the future holds.
God has placed a passion in our hearts to become misssionaries in the Phillippines.
Specifically the eastern Visayas, to the islands of Samar and Leyte.
We will be partnering with career missionaries of 20 years, the Alstons.
We’re looking forward to the coming weeks as we write the ending of this paragraph of our lives and prepare for the coming months of preparation, training, and raising support.
Thank you for your support, we need your prayers as we take this step of faith.
Heb. 11:1, 2 (The Message)
1-2The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd.
The Blessing of the Sun…
I heard today on the radio that today is the Blessing of the Sun, a tradition in which the Jewish rabbis say a special prayer in tradition to the belief that the sun has returned to its original place in the sky when God put it there at creation. This happens only once every 28 years.
The fact that it happened today is even more rare in that it only occurs on Passover once every 1,000 years.
This struck me in a profound way as I reflect about what God has been doing in my life.
When we passionately pursue God’s purpose for our lives and the Holy Spirit stirs that passion to come alive, we start to look at all our life experience and realize, “Everything in my life has been preparing me for this moment.”
I don’t want to just let this moment pass me by. I want to passionately pursue the Holy Spirit’s call to live that life of adventure he has designed me for.
Would you know a Burning Bush if you saw one?
Mark Batterson in his new book “Wild Goose Chase” talks about what the Celtic people referred to as ‘thin places’. Where the natural and supernatural are barely separated. This is more than a place, but an awareness of God at work in our world and the relationship He desires with us and what He is calling us to.
There are many Bible stories that we’ve heard about but never really grabbed a hold of the Truth God is speaking though them, ie. the ‘Burning Bush’ that Moses encountered. As I read and reflected on this story I began to ask myself (w/ Batterson’s help) if I’m missing out on burning bush experiences.
Naturally, you would think, “How could I not notice a burning bush?”
But think about all the distractions we have in our day, think about the busyness, meetings, text messaging, phone calls, email, and Facebook time we have. Is it possible a bush could be burning and we simply could walk right past it without ever realizing it?
Check out Exodus 3
“There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
Notice that the bush catches his attention, he stops what he is doing, and goes and checks it out.
How often have we seen God reveal himself or seen Him moving but we think, “I’m going to have to check this out more sometime.”
Verse 4:
“When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
I know you’re with me now, once he stops, drops what he’s doing, only then does God speak. And then Moses answers in an amazing way, “Here I am.” Three seriously profound words that are easily overlooked. Words that speak of not just presence, but availability; openness.
Notice what happens next in verse 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
What’s so significant about this besides the fact that God is talking, which is just way cool to think about.
It’s realizing the environment that God is speaking to Moses, he’s at work. He’s doing his mundane, everyday job of tending sheep and God shows up. Not only that, God tells him that where he is working is a Holy place, why? Because of God’s presence. How often to we take for granted God’s presence in the mundane activities of our life?
And then God gives the command for Moses to take off his sandals. This is pretty much the modern day equivalent of God saying, “Turn off your cell phone, turn off your computer, I want to talk with you.”
Wow! Wouldn’t that be awesome? I would love for God to talk to me like that. But then again, maybe he wants to and is waiting, I just haven’t noticed the burning bush because I’m late to another appointment and I’m talking on my cell phone as I write an email that should have been sent yesterday…seriously, I’m really busy…
Is Thanksgiving a word or lifestyle?
As I think about Thanksgiving I think about turkey. I imagine sitting at a table surrounded by family eating way too much and then watching football and waiting for room to open up in my stuffed gut to pack away some homemade pie.
Interestingly our national holiday “Thanksgiving” can be a time when we tend to live it out the least as a lifestyle. Granted there are those who rally their own sense of self-fulfillment of “doing something good” during the holidays through charity and volunteering. But by and large the typical act of thanksgiving will be a 30 second bowing of our heads before we overeat.
So the question I pose is: what is true Thanksgiving?
A word, holiday, prayer, or is it a lifestyle?
When we live a lifestyle of Thanksgiving our perspective of living changes.
What do we do with our day? Do we treat it with purpose? Do we live intentionally numbering our days as Moses speaks of in the Psalms?
How do we live out thanksgiving for living in a country that defines freedom?
Do we take it for granted not knowing anything else? Or do we expose ourselves to the lack of freedom around the world, and then with the power of perspective live each day with a little more purpose than the day before?
Ironically, surrounded by all of the freedom we have, there is a tendency to abuse the system. The selfish sinful nature we possess pushes us to see how little we can get away with doing rather than keeping a perspective that we are not guaranteed tomorrow so I simply refuse to settle for anything less than my absolute best.
Today can impact eternity.
When we embrace this truth in our life we begin to live “Thanksgiving.”
Visit http://www.globalrichlist.com for a perspective on being thankful in terms of wealth.
Endless Summer Missions 