End of the Spear

The last two classes of practical missions we watched the movie End of the Spear. If you have not watched this movie I totally recommend it!! I really, really liked this movie. I had never heard of some of the people before, but I do know of Jim Elliot. It was really cool to see this real movie and see how much they sacrificed. Getting up and just going to a completely foreign place and moving your whole family is just incredible. I think it is so amazing that this group of people did that. Lately I've been thinking about how appealing it is to me to be a missionary! I would absolutely love to be a missionary in Africa!! This movie made such an impact on me because it made me realize how much of a sacrifice being a missionary really is. My favorite quote from the whole movie was at the very end when Steve Saint said, "no one took my dad's life... he gave his life." Wow! That is just soo amazing. But if God calls me, what will I do? If God asked you to leave everything would I go? Have you ever wondered if He is asking you to go? But we drown out His voice so much with what we want. What are we chasing? It's easy if we work in ministry to say we are chasing the Kingdom, but are we really searching for fame, approval, and achievement? Have you ever thought about that? It's easy to say God is calling you to the very place you want to be, but perhaps the place God is calling you is not the place you currently are. Would you go? If it meant leaving your best friends, family, and everything you know, would you go? "But small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few will find it." -Matthew 7:14. Would you take the road less traveled? Would you be one of the few? Would you go? If it was Ninevah, would you  go? So few seem to be willing. So many seem to drown out His calling with thoughts of self promotion, fame, and worldly success. Would you go? He might be asking me to do something today that is far greater than myself, but are we blinded by trying to make ourselves greater? Would you go? I really pray that I would go, I pray that I'm ready and able to go when He calls me to! I pray that worldly things never hold me back and that I will be ready to move my family if I have to in order to do what God calls me to do. I really liked this movie because God called these men and their families to move out to somewhere that was totally foreign and uncomfortable. I want to be like these people and I want to make a difference. I love Jim Elliot's quote that says, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." I really really enjoyed this movie!! 

Unit 1 Review: God's Mission and Purpose

This unit in the Missio Dei text book has been really interesting and I've really enjoyed all that I have been learning. In this blog I'm going to reflect on some of the themes from unit one and just how I have felt about them. The first theme is that the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, tells the story of God's purpose. I have always really understood this well. There has never been a point in my life where I questioned this or anything like that. The one thing that I did just fully realize through reading this book is that the Bible is one story, and that story is obviously God's story. The next major point of Unit 1 was that God's purpose is relationship, redemption, and reconciliation. I love that God wants an intimate relationship with us! I absolutely love that and I want that too. Its also so amazing to think that he wants to rescue me and to be completely reconciled with me! God is soo indescribable!! So often I say things like God is beautiful, He is amazing, He is loving; but I feel like if God is beautiful, I shouldn't be calling anyone on earth beautiful, if He is amazing, no one on earth is amazing, if He is loving, no one on earth is truly loving like him. I hope that makes since! It really is pretty stretched but God is just so incredible that I think he shouldn't be limited to the adjectives we use for people here on earth. The words that come to mind that I can't describe for anyone else on earth are PERFECT and RIGHTEOUS. The third theme of unit one is that God invites us to participate in His purpose; He blesses us so that we can bless others. I think this is so true!! I already knew this before, but reading about this in Missio Dei just reminded me of how true that really is!! :) God has blessed me so that I can go out and be a blessing to the world!! "God's story is unfolding as we see and participate in God's kingdom throughout the earth" - I'm still trying to understand this more clearly. I guess the wording is just kind of hard for me to understand? I'm not sure. But God is definitely working throughout people to further His kingdom!! The last main theme was that the spread of God's kingdom takes place in the context of warfare with Satan. I really enjoyed this chapter and learned a lot of new things. One of my favorite quotes from this chapter was that "The Kingdom of God has already gone through its darkest night. The most dismal evil in all history found its absolute limits at Calvary." I just really like this quote because I had never really thought about it in this way. It also makes me think about just how much Jesus did for me and makes me soo much more grateful!! :) Once again, this unit has been really interesting and I recommend Missio Dei to anyone who wants a good read and to see things they may have never realized before! :)

Let the Nations Be Glad!

Today we got to do a little something different and go to the chapel and read. I really loved this! It was fun to go on a little adventure to the chapel :) but also to be able to be in a place that is so big and open and I just found absolute peace being in there. It made me feel so rested and peaceful being in a place that I go to to worship Christ! We read an article by John Piper about worship being the ultimate goal of the church. "Shout to the Lord all the earth!" Here were a few of my favorite parts of the article: When the flame of worship burns with the heat of God's true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest peoples on earth... RELENTLESS PURSUIT... Mark 10:45....and God is pursing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. So those were a few of my favorite parts. What I wanted to focus on in this blog was worshiping God! I think that our lives should be reflections of worshiping Him! Joshua 1:8 says "This book of the law shall not depart form your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it;" Some of you may be thinking, "Courtney, I don't know how to meditate, especially not on God's Word." Or maybe you thought, "Meditating, do I have to like turn on weird music, cross my legs & close my eyes?" Both of these thoughts are normal and understandable. So let's see if you meditate and don't even know it! I wonder if you know the latest People magazine from front to back. You know the best and worst dressed from TeenVogue. You have the new gossip girl book glued to your face. You know every new song put on iTunes the moment it goes up. You know the rankings of all of the football teams. You have Facebook Mobile so you can check your wall at all times. Meditating, surely not? What in your day do you think on, look at every day? You spend time with your history book or you study for hours from your science book. (Which please continue to do. Studying = good). I just wonder if you even realize all the things you know and meditate on in your day, week, or month. You most likely check your email at least two times a day. You get on Facebook in the morning, right after school, and before bed to see all the new happenings. You hit Skype or ichat every chance you get to see what everyone at your school is typing about today. In all reality you meditate on a lot of things, and you do it well! So why in the world when it comes to the most prevalent, most translated, most popular book in the world are we so hesitant to meditate on that? if you claim to be a Christ follower, your heart should be like a huge Post-It note block as you flip through verses you have written on your heart. I wonder if 30 less minutes on Facebook could be spent in Psalm 30. Or 15 minutes texting Paul, your new crush, could be spend in Paul's text of how to live a passionate life for Christ. Meditating simply means soaking up the Word of God and pondering those things in your heart. It means to read James or Philippians and not just see truth but to write truth on your heart. So when your Facebook friend posts something mean on your formspring, you can flip through your Post-It note heart of God's Word and be able to react as Christ would have to bring glory to Him. So you know how to meditate, now you just need to prioritize what you are meditating on. I think this is a major part of worshiping Christ like this article says!