Saturday, November 17

How To Stay Alive



I have found through time spent in foreign lands that the best thing you can possibly do is keep your head up and your eyes open.  I have continually found myself in awe of where God has taken me. I am incredibly grateful for the experiences I have had these past years and I thank you for sharing in them with me and being interested in not only my travels, but also my thoughts. Through my life I have had the opportunity to explore through nearly twenty-five different countries and have met people from all walks of life. I can’t promise I will ever stop traveling, but I can say that if my future has seldom opportunity, I will have no reason to be bleak. I choose to not trust my imagination of what our world is like, so I therefore quit seeing things from a distance. To stay alive, you first must loose your life. With a new season of life constantly arising the only sustaining anchor for my soul is Jesus Christ. I don’t pretend to be wise, but rather have taken every opportunity I’ve been given as a drop of wisdom.  One thing I have learned is that everyone is searching for the one thing to fill the void in his or her life. To be on this “search” is something that has become the new cool or hipster thing to do. I don’t hesitate to say I have found it.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end”

It is no wonder why everyone from beginning to end searches for the meaning of life. God set it in our hearts to look, to be adventurous, to go on journeys.  That when we finally found the answer to this life, it would be completely genuine, from our hearts and souls, with a love for God that is raw and fireproof, completely filled with the one thing that can ultimately fill our void. I couldn’t fathom seeing the things I’ve seen without the knowledge that it comes from a love story of the living God who created everything and in that gave each person a purpose. This information may not be new for anyone. It may not inspire or move you, you may not agree with it or like it, but in the end I can say with full confidence that it will keep you alive.





This is Dylan to my right, although he is crazy he is a good kid. He will be a talented surfer one day too. 


Wednesday, November 14

Saturday, November 3

What's in store?


Thinking back to my time spent thus far I can honestly say that it has been very uplifting for me. I arrived in South Africa with the ambition to serve in a community with kids that live a life completely different than mine. I have a little less than a month till I arrive home to California and I have been dealing with the struggle of what I am going to do when I return. Through time spent serving here, I have been able to learn a lot about myself, and a lot about God. I am incredibly grateful for; yet fearful of the freedom God gives us in life. I can’t help but sometimes wish God would just tell me which direction to go.  I was encouraged by a quote by Martin Luther, as found on my sister’s blog olivemepost.com.

“Discipleship is not limited to what you can comprehend – it must transcend all comprehension. Plunge into the deep waters beyond your own comprehension, and I will help you to comprehend even as I do. Bewilderment is the true comprehension. Not to know where you are going is the true knowledge. My comprehension transcends yours. Thus Abraham went forth from his father and not knowing whither he went. He trusted himself to my knowledge, and cared not for his own, and thus he took the right road and came to his journey’s end. Behold, that is the way of the cross. You cannot find it yourself, so you must let me lead you as though you were a blind man. Wherefore it is not you, no man, no living creature, but I myself, who instruct you by my word and Spirit in the way you should go. Not the work which you choose, not the suffering you devise, but the road which is clean contrary to all that you choose or contrive or desire – that is the road you must take. To that I call you and in that you must be my disciple. “- Martin Luther quoted by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Cost of Discipleship


            As I see this I realize that this is exactly the life I have asked for in my worship and prayer. This is supposed to be the life we all asked for when we gave our lives to Christ. So many times I have said the prayer, God use me. As I looked up the definition of the word ‘used’ it stated; to be employed in accomplishing something.  From my time spent here in South Africa, I can honestly say that God has been using me. He has allowed me to spread love to a group of kids through the sport of surfing and through the act of fellowship. My life is in the hands of the creator, if it was in my hands, I can guarantee you I wouldn’t be where I am at right now in South Africa. That’s what I find exciting about this life, and that is why I strive to not worry about anything, but in everything give praise. For in the end, I have been given far more than I deserve.


 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28