Got To Be Tru!

Hey everyone! So this past week we didn't anything to extreme...sadly. However we did do some orienteering for our Outdoor Education for Spiritual Formation (OSEF). For those who do not know what that orienteering is, it is how to use a compass, read maps and coordinates, take a heading, and follow that heading the correct way. I would just like to say my 5th grade geography came in handy, thank MAMMA! So after a couple of classes in the morning we spent the remainder of the afternoon in the valley on a way-point race. My 4 person team finished in just over an hour. The winning team was done with a time of about 35 minutes. So that put us in 5th place. We would have had a much better time but on our last two checkpoints there was a very large metal object in the woods. Which in turn threw off our compass and we spent about 20 minutes doing some deductive reasoning to figure out which was our correct checkpoint, since there were multiple in the valley. It is okay though I am taking the loss well. Only a minor breakdown afterwords. I'm just kidding haha. It was a prep race for the actual race on Monday so the loss didn't hit me too hard. For those who don't know me as well as others, basically if I can compete at it, I will compete at it and you can put money on it I'm gonna go for the W! So the actual race will be Monday and from what I gather it is going to be an Amazing Race sorta thing. So I am extremely STOKED!

It also looks that I will be able to start playing guitar on a regular basis at Fraser valley baptist. So needless to say I am very happy about that.


We had a few different speakers this week all are staff here at Timberline. The majority of the week Dan Thomas spoke on 1st Samuel. We also Pete Hammond go through Ezra as well as Joseph Weissman give us an intro into Isiah.
I enjoyed going through 1st Samuel the most out of all the classes this past week. In the first few chapters of 1st Samuel we see the Israelites                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
again not quite following God like they are supposed to be,"big surprise I know". We see them putting their faith into the things of God instead of the god of those things. In chapter 4 we see how they were so convinced that bringing forth the Ark of the Covenant in front of them in battle would bring them victory over the Philistines. They only forgot one thing the Ark never brought them a victory, it was the Lord of the Ark that had brought them victory in the past. Also however we see the evil men who were leading in chapter 4, the sons of Eli. I wonder why it seems almost every time there is a Godly leader in Israel at this point in time and prior their sons turn out to be just wicked men. A verse that was said to me a lot growing up while I was being disciplined was Proverbs 22:6 which is-

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.

I often wonder if these Godly leaders did not follow this command because if they did their children would probably not be wicked like they turned out to be. Which also takes me to another Proverbs verse. 

Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them. Proverbs 13:24

So I wonder if these Godly leaders just neglected their children? Or just didn't care? Whatever it was I would argue that we can look at these verses and see that if the leaders would have followed them, most likely Israel would have been much better off.

When Samuel becomes judge we see the drastic turn around from evil to Godly leader. We see how in chapter 7 that when the Philistines try to attack Israel by surprise all that Samuel has to do is pray and sacrifice to the Lord. Then God goes out and defeats Israel's enemies for them. All they had to do was ask and God would save them. Yet how quickly they forget and in the next chapter they demand a king to go out and fight their battles for them. So they can be like the other nations. Yet they are supposed to be Gods chosen people set apart from the other nations and what do they want to do? Be like everyone else. So they demand a king. Which in turn is do to another bad son leading the nation. Even when they are warned of what will happen if a king is given to them they still are stubborn and demand one.
Yet it is so very cool how through their demanding stupidity God still works and will send Christ through the line of king David.

We still end up doing this a lot today. Not so much demanding someone to fight our battles for us, however that can be one of them. I would qualify what we do and what they do is the same, saying we know best and demanding our way when God does not seem present. Yet at that very point in time He is just setting things in motion or lining the last few pieces up into place. We have to remember God's timing is perfect and ours just isn't anywhere close!

On Tuesday we had our workday. I was on wood detail. We delivered a trailer full of firewood to a lady from a local church. After unloading the trailer we then preceded to cut more and then split it. I felt right at home with the 18" chainsaw I was logging with. Thanks to the many years of practice at Doyle's Lawn and Landscape.

So for the outreach team I'm on we go down every Friday night to Colorado University and help out with Horizons International which is a Christian organization. We go over to the university for their international student coffee hour. What we do is basically go in and talk to students, if Jesus comes up great, if not we still are trying to leave a good impression of Christians on the students. We had an awesome time this past Friday. We did a free food Friday back at Horizons after the coffee hour. We had a great turn out. Along with dinner we did some pumpkin carving. for most of the students there they had never carved one before. I was the only one at my table who had done one before. So I enplaned what to do and everyone played their part. It was a fun time that's for sure!

 It was great to just get some hands on experience with some other cultures and other people and just be a light into their lives for those few hours. Hopefully week after week our saltiness will start to rub off on these people and they will start to see the difference in us.
Through this ministry it has made me think of how I act not only in public but also back at the lodge or even at home. Because one small thing can make it that much harder to show someone the difference we have compared to them. So these words come to mind.


Its got to be tru
I gotta be livin what I say I believe
Its got to be tru
Even when nobody but Jesus is whachin me
Its got to be tru
Every single minute of every day
Is anybody ever gonna look at me and say
hey its got to be tru

Now I know that I will never be perfect but I and we all do need to be more conscious in what we do and say in not only public but at home. Because we never know who is watching, but God always is.


Till Next Time
Love Jared. 
  

He's The King Of The Jungle

Hey guys! So this past week we had a full week of classes and are kinda starting to get into a normal routine. But before I get into all of that I shall tell you about Monday!

We had the privilege of going to the Young Life camp "Crooked Creek" up here about 5 minutes away from the lodge and use their high ropes course and huge drop swing. I tell ya it is a faith and trust building experience. Faith that you have been hooked into your harness correctly and trust that if you miss your step that it will catch you on the line. Once again after I overcame my initial fear of falling to my death, I was hopping along like a pro. Plus this course made me feel like I was on American Ninja Warrior! Haha. I now feel like I am ready for the qualifying round. 

Through all of these activities we have done so far I have really had to trust other people than myself and God. If you know me well, you know I don't usually like to get out of my comfort zone. I do what I know and I know what I like. I am so glad I have made the choice to be out here and really let the Lord take me out of what I know, and throw me smack dab into uncertainty. Because these great experiences I have now I probably, no I know I would have never done them without this leap of faith.

This Sunday night (yes I know it's Monday now and I am late with the post) I was finally able to play guitar at Fraser Valley Baptist during the evening service. I wasn't the leader but I was just happy to be plugged in and playing. Hopefully it will be pretty steady deal me playing or even maybe leading there.

 We had Charlie Mchall the director of the His Hill Torchbearers campus in Texas come out and speak to us for the week. He did an overview of  1st Kings and went from the end of King David's life through Solomon and finished with Elijah. I enjoyed it very much. Not only because those are some of my favorite stories from the Old Testament, but I really liked his style of teaching and the stories he used to go along with his lessons. He used many good southern terms and analogies during his lessons. Lets just say if you don't understand guns or why everything should be fried you may not get some of them haha. So needless to say if you know me well, I had a good sized smile on my face while I listened to the lectures.
As we went through 1st Kings we spent most of our time on King Solomon and even though he was the wisest man to ever live, he still made some very poor choices. We also went through the family of David and the split of the kingdom on our way to Elijah. I have always thought it to be very interesting of how wise King Solomon was yet the many, many poor choices he made. Some of witch affected him and others his family or for that matter the nation he was ruling. Such as the many wives he took from other nations. Which in turn lead his heart astray from the Lord when his wives brought in their own gods. Seeing he was so wise it is strange to me that he managed to forget the biggest of the Lords commands. Not only that, but the charge that his father David gave to him before he died.(see 1st kings 2:3) This is another great instance where being unequally yoked causes a bunch of trouble for Gods people. The part that gets me is the fact that he took all of these wives to show his power. Because culturally in that day and age, the more wives you had signified how powerful you were. I find it odd how a man who was humble enough to ask God for wisdom had such a problem with his ego, and the fact that instead of having the Lord who granted him his wisdom and everything that he did not ask for. Instead of letting God show his power Solomon did it his own way. Which in turn made the kingdom suffer because of it.

Now on to Elijah, which everything he has to do, or undo rather is pretty much directly related to what Solomon did and all the disfunction and turning away from God that his family did after. It is crazy to see how in the beginning of Elijah's story he has so much faith but has never seen any miracles and by the end his story, he has seen so many and has so much less faith that God says go anoint 3 men because they are now going to do what I had intended for you. But because of your little faith I will not have you be the one who finishes the job.

I know there is much, much more to both of those stories but that is the biggest thing for me that I saw in them. Maybe that's because I need to learn to not always put my faith in myself and my own abilities. We shall see as the year unfolds where the Lord wants to work on me.

We had and awesome time of joy in my dorm this week. As roommate who had been running from God and trying to do it his own way realized,  he can't. He then gave his life to Christ that night. It was an awesome night in our room!

As I sit finishing this up I'm trying to figure out a song to go with this and I think to best fit this post as it deals with faith would be this.

People say this world's a jungle
And sometimes I must admit
I'd be scared to death
If I did not know who was king of it
But the truth is God created
This whole world with His own hand
So everything is under His command, and...

What I feel
Is telling me this world's gone crazy
But what is real
Says God's still on His throne
What I need
Is to remember one thing:
That the Lord of the gentle breeze
Is Lord of the rough and tumble
And He is the King of the jungle


 That is something to remember weather we are trying to do it on our own. Or we get to a point where we feel like it can't be done and nothing will change. I feel that is something I do not tell myself enough. Yet I do believe those very words it's funny how when everything is going just peachy, how you forget to remember it.  Feel special you got a verse and a chorus this week haha.


Till Next Time
Love Jared

Speechless

So we all went down to Moab Utah this past week for an awesome week long camping trip. We left Timberline about 7:15 on Monday morning. It is about 6 hour drive from Fraser to Moab. The landscape down there is just crazy, I have seen mountainous landscapes before due to being in the Smokies. So my first few days being up in the Rockies I wasn't as in awe of them as I was of the desert, sandstone, canyon land, and jagged cliff like landscape of Utah. It was amazing. Just the vast nothingness and then all of a sudden a canyon with a river running through it and to see the life that river brings to the area around it with the trees, bushes,  and the wildlife.

We camped along the river in gold bar campground which is close to Arches national park . Totally roughing it.  Showers in the icy Colorado River that was about the extent of our amenities haha. Well, we did also have a hole in the floor outhouse. Which was a blessing and a curse. Lets just say I was glad I didn't have to dig my own hole but the closed in smell of that tiny room wasn't the most inviting. I can at least be thankful that It wasn't baking in the Florida sun all day. Definitely an awesome trip, but it sure wasn't the Holiday Inn Express haha. Though I did sleep in my hammock all week which was quite lovely. Thanks again to my church for the gift! I am the blue one in the picture below. A few of the other guys had the same setup idea.

The campsite is about a 25 to 30 minute hike away from the Carona arch. When we arrived Monday afternoon we hiked up and checked out the arch. It was quite an awesome sight to take in. The weather was very nice for the hike, around 80 degrees and almost no humidity at all. While most of the group thought they would die of heat stroke myself and a few of the other southern guys had a bit of a laugh at the comments of "its so hot", "ugh the heat", and others.  Since to us the high 70s, low 80s, and no humidity is a nice fall day haha. 

Tuesday we broke up into a few groups and went out and did some activities. I was with the first group to do some very advanced cross country mountain biking. The trail we did was insane with its uphills and downhills. We were riding on what's called "slick-rock" it's basically extremely smooth sandstone. Again did I say it was awesome!? It was probably my favorite part of the week, wait no it definitely was! We rented some top of the line mountain bikes for the trail, due to the difficulty of it since a Walmart special wont quite do the trick haha. To the top and the right is a few pics of some of the terrain we biked over.

After the 5 hour ride once we were passing back through town we stopped at this awesome little burger and malt/shake joint called "Milts". Which has been in Moab since 1954. It is seriously a taste of America at its finest.

Wednesday the group I was in went for a hike in Arches national park. We hiked back a few miles to the Black arch and the Double O Arch. Again some pretty sweet terrain to traverse. We had some pretty amazing views on the hike. After the hike, we again went to Milts

Thursday my group did some canyonerring. Which involved a short hike, some team building activities, some rather chilly water to wade through, and going backwards off a couple of extremely high cliffs. It was a very good exercise of trust, since I was at the mercy of my group leaders, the rope, and gravity. I'll tell you I haven't felt that helpless in a long time. But once you pass down that first 20 feet the other 100 is a blast. We had two repels, the first was about 140 feet and the second was about 200.  After we hiked for roughly 50mins out of the canyon we repelled into we again went to Milts. If we hadn't there may have been a mutiny. I think you could say we were hooked.

 

Here is a picture of their double chili cheeseburger and a jumbo vanilla shake. Side note I know it isn't very jumbo compared to how the South does jumbo. But oh my goodness was it so good!

We had our first lesson of the week in the shadow of the Corona arch. Our teacher for the week was Josh Pedersen who is a pastor of a church in South Carolina. Each day he took us through the book of judges and each lesson we focused on a specific judge. The point of the lessons this past week, were to show that just as the Israelites continued to return to their evil ways time and time again and then were rescued by a judge that the Lord would send, in the same way Christ has saved us from the ways of our flesh and the sinful nature we have inside of us.
Probably my biggest standout thought came to my heart and mind during the final morning session around the campfire. The question was posed to use after learning about the judges, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Shamgar, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. My thought was on Samson and how in his story when in chapter 15 verse 18 after he is done slaughtering some Philistines with a donkey's jawbone (which side note he wasn't even supposed to touch in the first place) he cries out to the lord and this is how the text reads

Judges 15:18-20 NIV
Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord , “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.   Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

So even after the many many times Samson does his own deal and totally goes against the commands the Lord had for his life, God the father does not forsake him or forget him and continues to look upon him and care for his needs.
Now here's the cool part. Christ as the perfect redeemer for us, he hung on a cross for those sins that Samson committed and for the ones that you and I committed. He lived out perfectly the commands his father had set in place for his life. Yet unlike Samson who God the Father did not forsake or look away from, Christ hung on that cross and the Father turned his face from his son and did forsake him for that short amount of time. So that our ultimate need could be cared for which is our depraved state we are in.
One other piece of wisdom we can see from Samson is that it is very unwise to be unequally yoked. As we can see the trouble that everyone of his relationships got him into. Especially his relationship with Delilah. It's just a bad idea to be in a relationship with a non believer.

By now for those of my faithful followers know that I like to tie in some song lyrics to the end of my blog post. So far just Steven Curtis Chapman songs, so why quit now?
As I was out in Gods Awesome creation this week I found myself many times lacking words to say. You can only use "amazing, awesome, beautiful, and majestic" so many times to describe something before the start to lose their worth. Along with that I was thinking about my thought on Samson and Christ which the love that Christ showed to us we can't describe in words. So these came to mind.

I am speechless, I'm astonished and amazed
I am silenced by your wondrous grace
You have saved me
You have raised me from the grave.
And I am speechless in your presence now.
I'm astounded as I consider how
You have shown us
A love that leaves us speechless

Till next time
Love Jared

The Change

So this past week we hiked the Berthoud pass. It wasn't to bad a hike until the sleet and snow started to come down haha. Not very fun. Tomorrow we head down to Moab Utah where we will be hiking,  biking, and repelling into the canyon. Its gonna be really sweet. Gonna love the heat down there and everyone who thinks 80 is hot haha.

I almost forgot to post about our workday privilege to go up to the young life camp and help scrub the very bad black algae problem they have out of a 120 thousand gallon pool. Needless to say the maintenance guy who was kind of thrown into the fray was a bit in over his head. I was glad I could help and educate the staff up there a good bit on how to deal with the problem. 

This past week we had the privilege of hearing the director of the Himalayan torchbearers school "Satish john". He took us through the book of Ruth and through how the lord has changed his life. Satish used to be a member of a radical Hindu group in India when he was a teen and young adult. His main job in this group was to scare missionaries into leaving the country. Eventually the lord broke him through many things and Satish became a Christian. A short while after he put his trust in the lord, the same organization he used to be a part of put a bounty on his life. On more than a few occasions his life was almost taken. But by the protective hand of Christ his life was spared. The one story that stuck out to me the most was that one night Satish woke up to a member of his former organization over the top of him with a dagger in his hand and another standing beside him. Now these men are highly trained in the art of killing with a dagger. However the one rule they follow is that if the dagger missis it's mark on the first strike it can not be used again. Well the dagger missed its mark and went into the mattress to the bewilderment of the attacker. This then terrified the attackers. One ran from the house the other to terrified for his own life now could not move. But instead of retaliating Satish got up, said to the man who was shaking and sweating in fear by now, "you look like you could use something to drink, how about some Chi?" So they went into the kitchen and he had the opportunity to share  the gospel with him and lead him to Christ. After some time the other man returned to see what had happened. Satish had the opportunity to lead him also.
It struck me after I heard of those events, would I be able to show the love of Christ as Satish did, and not be angry or just do something out of self defense. I don't think I would. Or could just be that kind as he was.
So these words come to mind as I think of how we are constantly called to grow to be more like Christ.

What about the change
What about the difference
What about the grace
What about forgiveness
What about a life that's showing
I'm undergoing the change, yeah
I'm undergoing the change

Till next time!
Love Jared.