Moving Forward

Pursuing Holiness

Time flies when life is insane, let me tell ya! Well incase you've been living under a rock for the past 6 weeks... or I haven't talked to you... I'm moving to Kampala, Uganda the first of August. I'll be gone for at least a year. This is an amazing opportunity and the reason I haven't written since finding out I'm for sure going is that I've been scared. Once it's out there and everyone knows it seems like there's no turning back. Why would I want to turn back? Good question. Especially since it is so obvious that this is where God wants me right now. The story of how this all came to be is amazing and I attribute it all to the Lord. It is only by His provision that I'm able to go. I shouldn't even have been accepted, but I was. So, yahoo God!
Getting back to why would I want to turn back? Well I have lots of reasons. None of them are awesome, but they still mean a lot to me in my life. I don't want to get into to too much detail here, but I'm mainly afraid of losing people. A year is a long time to not have great contact with people and I'm scared that my relationships are all going to change. Rubbish, you say? We'll see I guess. I had a bit of an eye opening experience recently and it made me freak out just a little. A lot happens in a year. Things change, people change. I'm just so glad that God doesn't. That's all I've got. And that should be enough.
I get the feeling from some people that they are not very happy that I'm leaving. They either don't say much about it at all or quickly change the subject when I say something about. I understand that some people use ignorance as a coping mechanism... but this is real to me. This is really hard for me. I need people to be supportive... and even if they're not happy I'd like to know I can count on them. Some people just aren't good at expressing emotion and that's ok. Some people have been too good at expressing emotion. And that's ok, unless you make me cry, then... not cool! :) I don't want this to be more dramatic than it already is. I know life will go on here without me... I just need to know that the people I love the most won't leave me behind.
My sister is good at making me sad to leave. All it take is Kayla telling me I can't go anywhere or even her singing to me to make me sad. She got made at me because Liz told her I would be missing her birthday this year. That was hard. I wish she could understand, but someday she will. Maybe someday she'll see what an awesome experience I had and she'll want to go preach the gospel to the lost. Let's start praying now, k?
Moving onto an update before I write about what I've been wanting to write about for like a month now. So other than me deciding to move... um well I worked at the bookstore for about 3 weeks just to help them out, plus I needed the money. For Memorial day I got to hang with my bff for a few days which was awesome. Yay for going to the zoo and feeding the giraffes! When I got back from her house I went down to Trent's... he was moving, his parents were in town, and I wanted to go to jr high youth group. From there I came home so I could do the Saturday service at church... I didn't have a huge sermon to give because it was a "first" sunday. It went well... seeing as though I've never led an entire service by myself before. The next couple weeks I worked at the store, taught VBS for the jr high at my church, and didn't sleep much. Then last saturday I went down to Trent's to get ready to leave for the jr high mission trip with his church to Chattanooga, TN. We left Sunday and got back Friday night. I came back here Saturday evening so I could be here for church on Sunday morning to talk about my calling to Africa.
The mission trip to Chattanooga was pretty sweet. It was a great time getting to know some of the jr high kids better, getting to meet other kids from other churches, getting to work with the locals (some of the cutest kids ever!), getting to know a NH leader better, and getting to draw nearer to God through the blessing of others. I've been on lots of mission trips similar to the way this trip was formatted. It's much like an ASP trip, for those WS folks, except went through YouthWorks. All in all the YW staff was pretty cool... just a few little things that I didn't care for too much. Our church really bonded well with the other churches there. There's a girl I met on the trip from Texas. She's absolutely amazing. We've actually already been in contact since the trip through texting. She's really seeking Jesus right now so I'm trying my best to keep up with her. Be praying for her if you think about it. So much went on for me personally while in TN that I don't want take the time to write it all down. I spent a lot of time in prayer and in the word trying to discern some stuff and it was good. I don't have it all figured out yet, but I don't have to have it all figured out right now.
Now onto the whole point of this blog tonight. There's something I've been struggling to understand lately and that is people who read the scriptures, teach the scriptures, and/or talk about the scriptures, but don't live what they're preaching. I have people who will tell me they are studying a certain book in the bible. They say how they're getting a lot out of it and learning new things. That's so great and I'm so glad to hear things like that. My beef is when people say that they're reading something or learning about someone and they don't follow through by letting their actions show that they're grasping things. Now, obviously I'm not perfect and I do it too sometimes. I let things slip or I am quick to anger and judge, or I have a bad attitude some days... we all do. It just makes me sad when I see someone really studying something, telling people about it and then a month later doing exactly what they learned not to do. If you are talking/learning about focusing and not letting earthly things and relationships distract you then don't waste your time flirting with someone or focusing on a new relationship, or focusing on worldly possessions. Those things will get you no where. You know? I just think it's time for some accountability in leadership, in relationships, and in friendships. We are supposed to be pursuing holiness. Holiness... I think it means to be wholly dedicated and devoted to God, distinct and separate from the world's way of living, committed to right living and purity. Holiness is the absence of sin, evil, and wrongdoing. It is being spotlessly free from blemish. I think it's the presence of righteousness, purity, and godliness. When we accept Jesus, God makes us holy by forgiving our sins. He looks at us as though we had never sinned. BUT when He sees us as holy, we have not perfected our holiness. We must strive daily to be more like Jesus, to be more holy.
1 Peter 1:13-16 says:
"So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy."
That's a huge deal! It's not an easy thing at all. But just because something isn't easy doesn't mean that it's difficulty can be an excuse for us. Make any sense? If something is hard, than we've got to work that much harder, yeah? I really think so.
I guess my challenge is for you to really dive deep into the Word of God. And really pursue holiness. Really do what you say you're going to. Really work hard to make Jesus Christ the center of your life. AND stop letting things like friends and family distract you from doing it. That's my prayer this week.
I'm leaving for my mission trip to New Orleans with my youth this saturday. Please keep us in your prayers. Also, Trent's sr. high is leaving for New Orleans real early Sunday morning, so you can be praying for that too. Peace ya'll!

posted by Moving Forward @ 11:15 PM