Hello, friends!
Here's a quick post about a great night I had with the folk from the LBC Gospel Choir at Mizzou. Click here to read more.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Friday, September 30, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Oh Mama, why?!?!
Hello, friends!
If you know me, you know that I love my Mama. In fact, I am proud to call myself a Mama's boy in the best sense of the word. I owe Mama everything and would do anything for her short of killing a man (and even that I'd have to think hard about).
But, there is one thing that I wish Mama didn't do growing up, and that's give me so much medicine. If I had a sniffle, a cough, or anything higher than a 98.6, I was getting drugged up and drugged up good. This was great when I was growing up because I was able to gather my fair share of sick days, but now I can see that the short term gains were not worth the long term losses. For you see, my friends, I have no immune system.
I'm sitting her in the Student Center right now, fighting off a flu with everything I have. I can feel the body aches. My thyroids are a little sore and I'll bet if you took my temperature right now it would be just a touch high. All signs point to me being bedridden tomorrow.
Of course, I'm only joking about blaming Mama for this (mostly). But, I am someone who gets sick fairly often. I have a history of migraines and am good for at least 1-2 sick days a season. I have two theories as to why this happens. The first is that Mama gave me to many meds as a kid. There could be a little bit of truth to this, but T, Phuzz, and the Kid don't get too sick too often, so that may not hold as much water as I would like.
My second theory is that God likes to remind me of who is in charge of His ministry at Mizzou. When I have a migraine or the flu I'm not much good on campus. In fact, I'm pretty worthless. I can get a little bit of work done on the computer, but most of the time I'm spending is sleeping. One nice thing about these days is that I get to spend some good time in prayer too. This is when God reminds me that prayer is super crucial to ministry and that even though I'm not on campus, He still is.
Typically, October and March are my worst months for migraines, usually averaging a little over 2 per week. Please pray this month that God will be show me mercy and that I won't have to deal with these bad boys this month. Also pray that in the midst of the pain, I will be seeking Jesus and be reminded of who is in charge.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
If you know me, you know that I love my Mama. In fact, I am proud to call myself a Mama's boy in the best sense of the word. I owe Mama everything and would do anything for her short of killing a man (and even that I'd have to think hard about).
But, there is one thing that I wish Mama didn't do growing up, and that's give me so much medicine. If I had a sniffle, a cough, or anything higher than a 98.6, I was getting drugged up and drugged up good. This was great when I was growing up because I was able to gather my fair share of sick days, but now I can see that the short term gains were not worth the long term losses. For you see, my friends, I have no immune system.
I'm sitting her in the Student Center right now, fighting off a flu with everything I have. I can feel the body aches. My thyroids are a little sore and I'll bet if you took my temperature right now it would be just a touch high. All signs point to me being bedridden tomorrow.
Of course, I'm only joking about blaming Mama for this (mostly). But, I am someone who gets sick fairly often. I have a history of migraines and am good for at least 1-2 sick days a season. I have two theories as to why this happens. The first is that Mama gave me to many meds as a kid. There could be a little bit of truth to this, but T, Phuzz, and the Kid don't get too sick too often, so that may not hold as much water as I would like.
My second theory is that God likes to remind me of who is in charge of His ministry at Mizzou. When I have a migraine or the flu I'm not much good on campus. In fact, I'm pretty worthless. I can get a little bit of work done on the computer, but most of the time I'm spending is sleeping. One nice thing about these days is that I get to spend some good time in prayer too. This is when God reminds me that prayer is super crucial to ministry and that even though I'm not on campus, He still is.
Typically, October and March are my worst months for migraines, usually averaging a little over 2 per week. Please pray this month that God will be show me mercy and that I won't have to deal with these bad boys this month. Also pray that in the midst of the pain, I will be seeking Jesus and be reminded of who is in charge.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Sweetness of Sabbath
Hello, friends!
My freshman year I was at a Fall Conference and the speaker talked to us about Sabbath. I don't remember everything that he said about it, but I remember being convicted and deciding at that point that I would regularly take Sabbath seriously. Since then, I have seen my Sabbaths go through a number of different phases but I have done what I could to keep Sabbath being a part of my life.
This year I have found myself looking forward to my Sabbath in a way that I haven't in quite some time. I think that with the added responsibilities that I have undertaken this year, including trying to plant in a cross cultural situation, getting regular rest is now more important than ever.
I have often had conversations with different folk about the need for Sabbath and whether or not we as Christians are commanded by God to take them. I won't go into too much detail, but I absolutely believe that God commands the Sabbath in the Old Testament (in fact, it's one of the 10 Commandments), and Jesus and Paul both affirm the need for a Sabbath rest for God's people. I have seen firsthand the beautiful benefits of taking a regular day of rest and I encourage my students to do the same. We live in a society that asks us to constantly be working. I do not believe that God asks us to do that. I believe that God knows what is good for us and wants us to spend a day in sweet fellowship with Him.
Saturday is my normal Sabbath this semester but it occasionally I switch it up. Different folk will argue about whether or not Sabbath needs to be on Saturday or Sunday. My personal thought is that more important than which day you are resting is that you are doing it. Rest is a good thing. Get it when you can.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
My freshman year I was at a Fall Conference and the speaker talked to us about Sabbath. I don't remember everything that he said about it, but I remember being convicted and deciding at that point that I would regularly take Sabbath seriously. Since then, I have seen my Sabbaths go through a number of different phases but I have done what I could to keep Sabbath being a part of my life.
This year I have found myself looking forward to my Sabbath in a way that I haven't in quite some time. I think that with the added responsibilities that I have undertaken this year, including trying to plant in a cross cultural situation, getting regular rest is now more important than ever.
I have often had conversations with different folk about the need for Sabbath and whether or not we as Christians are commanded by God to take them. I won't go into too much detail, but I absolutely believe that God commands the Sabbath in the Old Testament (in fact, it's one of the 10 Commandments), and Jesus and Paul both affirm the need for a Sabbath rest for God's people. I have seen firsthand the beautiful benefits of taking a regular day of rest and I encourage my students to do the same. We live in a society that asks us to constantly be working. I do not believe that God asks us to do that. I believe that God knows what is good for us and wants us to spend a day in sweet fellowship with Him.
Saturday is my normal Sabbath this semester but it occasionally I switch it up. Different folk will argue about whether or not Sabbath needs to be on Saturday or Sunday. My personal thought is that more important than which day you are resting is that you are doing it. Rest is a good thing. Get it when you can.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Friday, September 23, 2011
Mizzou ACF: Serendipity and Second Chances...
Hello, friends!
Here's a new post about a great ACF encounter I had today. It's called: Serendipity and Second Chances.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Here's a new post about a great ACF encounter I had today. It's called: Serendipity and Second Chances.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Prayer is one of those things...
Hello, friends!
I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but I've been finding that the longer I work in ministry, the more true this statement becomes: I am lost without prayer.
Prayer is not something that comes easily to me for a number of reasons. I think that I struggle with viewing it as a passive form of ministry. The temptation is for me to believe that prayer is what one does before the real work gets started and after the real work gets done.
The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth. We are truly hopelessly and utterly lost without prayer. It is impossible to do the will of God if one does not know what the will of God is. One cannot know the will of God unless one seeks it out. Prayer is how we seek out God's will.
As I grow in my responsibilities on staff and the fellowships grow in number, a sort of absurd irony arises. On the one hand, I find myself more in need of prayer when there are more things to do. On the other hand, the temptation to consider prayer passive and to forgo it in order to "get more stuff done" grows as well. For those to whom prayer comes naturally, this is not a tension at all. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.
One of the things I have heard many times from older staff is that fellowships tend to take on the personalities of their staff workers. This seems to be the case so far with ACF. We are a fun loving group who is highly competitive and a little bit awkward at times. We love games and we love food. We are also pretty bad at prayer but we are getting better. BCM doesn't have a culture yet since we are only a few weeks old, but I am happy to know that already we are starting to develop a dependance on prayer for what we need.
Join me in prayer friends. It may seem a little weird, but join me in praying that the Mizzou fellowships and I will become better at prayer. Please pray that God will grow our dependance on Him so that our first move is always to our knees and not to our planners.
Have an excellent day
~Adam
I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but I've been finding that the longer I work in ministry, the more true this statement becomes: I am lost without prayer.
Prayer is not something that comes easily to me for a number of reasons. I think that I struggle with viewing it as a passive form of ministry. The temptation is for me to believe that prayer is what one does before the real work gets started and after the real work gets done.
The fact is that nothing could be further from the truth. We are truly hopelessly and utterly lost without prayer. It is impossible to do the will of God if one does not know what the will of God is. One cannot know the will of God unless one seeks it out. Prayer is how we seek out God's will.
As I grow in my responsibilities on staff and the fellowships grow in number, a sort of absurd irony arises. On the one hand, I find myself more in need of prayer when there are more things to do. On the other hand, the temptation to consider prayer passive and to forgo it in order to "get more stuff done" grows as well. For those to whom prayer comes naturally, this is not a tension at all. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.
One of the things I have heard many times from older staff is that fellowships tend to take on the personalities of their staff workers. This seems to be the case so far with ACF. We are a fun loving group who is highly competitive and a little bit awkward at times. We love games and we love food. We are also pretty bad at prayer but we are getting better. BCM doesn't have a culture yet since we are only a few weeks old, but I am happy to know that already we are starting to develop a dependance on prayer for what we need.
Join me in prayer friends. It may seem a little weird, but join me in praying that the Mizzou fellowships and I will become better at prayer. Please pray that God will grow our dependance on Him so that our first move is always to our knees and not to our planners.
Have an excellent day
~Adam
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Mizzou ACF: 09-17-11
Hello, friends!
Happy Saturday to you all! I have a new post for Mizzou ACF! You can get there by following this link.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Happy Saturday to you all! I have a new post for Mizzou ACF! You can get there by following this link.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Welcome, welcome!
Hello, friends!
Happy Thursday to you all! I'm sorry I didn't post last week, but I was contemplating a switch to a new blog and didn't want to post too soon in between switches to confuse things.
The focus of this new blog is actually going to be a little different than the previous one. Now that I have two chapters, I find it difficult to succinctly sum up my week. ACF and BCM are in two different places right now, with different prayer needs and different seasons of ministry.
I have also noticed that during this season, God is doing as much IN me as he is doing THROUGH me. I would love to share a little more personally about this journey I am taking as a follower of Jesus.
So, what we effectively have is three separate blogs. Mizzou ACF will chronicle the life of ACF, with occasional guest blogs from staff and students. Mizzou BCM will be about all the sweet things happening in BCM. This blog will be a random assortment of stuff related to the staff life.
Of course, it would be silly of me to ask you to keep three separate bookmarks and be moving back and forth between blogs, so consider this the main blog. Whenever I post something on either of those blogs, you'll know about it here. Oh, and if you want an escape from the intense stuff and just want to read something fun, there's always Penny Peddling, my blog about the money I'm saving by biking everywhere instead of driving.
A blog post wouldn't be proper without a few prayer requests, so here goes:
- Fall Conference is soon upon us! Here at Mizzou, we are hoping for 30 attendees, a very achievable number. We already have 15 ACFers and 1 BCM registered and ready to go! Please pray that God will put on the hearts of students a desire to deepen their relationships with Jesus and join us.
- September is already halfway over, which means October, or migraine season, is on its way. Please pray for protection as I battle my own body.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
Happy Thursday to you all! I'm sorry I didn't post last week, but I was contemplating a switch to a new blog and didn't want to post too soon in between switches to confuse things.
The focus of this new blog is actually going to be a little different than the previous one. Now that I have two chapters, I find it difficult to succinctly sum up my week. ACF and BCM are in two different places right now, with different prayer needs and different seasons of ministry.
I have also noticed that during this season, God is doing as much IN me as he is doing THROUGH me. I would love to share a little more personally about this journey I am taking as a follower of Jesus.
So, what we effectively have is three separate blogs. Mizzou ACF will chronicle the life of ACF, with occasional guest blogs from staff and students. Mizzou BCM will be about all the sweet things happening in BCM. This blog will be a random assortment of stuff related to the staff life.
Of course, it would be silly of me to ask you to keep three separate bookmarks and be moving back and forth between blogs, so consider this the main blog. Whenever I post something on either of those blogs, you'll know about it here. Oh, and if you want an escape from the intense stuff and just want to read something fun, there's always Penny Peddling, my blog about the money I'm saving by biking everywhere instead of driving.
A blog post wouldn't be proper without a few prayer requests, so here goes:
- Fall Conference is soon upon us! Here at Mizzou, we are hoping for 30 attendees, a very achievable number. We already have 15 ACFers and 1 BCM registered and ready to go! Please pray that God will put on the hearts of students a desire to deepen their relationships with Jesus and join us.
- September is already halfway over, which means October, or migraine season, is on its way. Please pray for protection as I battle my own body.
Have an excellent day!
~Adam
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