Follow Me???

Follow me on Twitter. Follow me on Facebook. Follow me on Blogger. Follow me on Pinterest. All these things that we now have that we can follow people on. We follow people that we know and love, we follow people who are "celebrities", we even follow people on all these things that we may not even like but we follow them anyway.  All to often we find ourselves spending hours upon hours "following" all these things and wasting away our days.  If we don't like what someone says or posts, in just a matter of seconds we can  move on to the next best thing.  Thousands of years ago, someone else said "Follow Me".  But when He said this, he wasn't talking about Twitter or Facebook.

When Jesus asked people to follow him, he was not talking about clicking a button and checking out his latest tweet.  Jesus wanted them to drop and leave everything and literally follow him.  When Jesus invited Peter and Andrew to follow Him, they walked away from their jobs. Others left family, wealth and possessions. He gently turned one away because the young man wouldn't give up riches. But those that followed gave up their rights in exchange for a relationship with the Messiah.

"Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."" Mark 10:21

Jesus called the disciples to follow him, and He has called us as believers to follow him as well.  

"Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'" Mark 8:34

Following Jesus was an all or nothing invitation. There isn't one example in Scripture where Jesus made an exception. And yet too many times I find myself following Jesus with only part of me. In fact, at times I'd prefer the Twitter version of following Jesus. Quick and entertaining, and done from behind a screen. When all the spiritual decorations are removed, the truth is I've tried to follow Jesus with only part of me. I consider His invitation, and I'm happy to follow Him with my mind and hands. And yet I know Jesus wants more. He doesn't want a 140-character relationship with me. He doesn't want my obedience a few times a day when I think about it. He doesn't want my convenient offerings of service. Following Jesus means being His shadow...walking in His footsteps to the leper colony, being a friend of the outcast, facing scorn from the religious community, and standing firm for what is right in spite of the cost. It means following Him in the very essence of who I am: The deep place where I submit my rights to the One who gave them up for me. When I look at it in that light, I realize once again why I want to follow Jesus fully. He gave up everything for me. How can I do any less? My footsteps on this earthly journey following Jesus are not always steady and strong. I've stumbled many times. Yet I know that following anyone else offers only temporary peace and joy. Only Jesus leads me from darkness to light, and from death to life. I don't expect I'll find that on Twitter.

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'"  John 8:12

What's been going on?!?!

It has been quite some time since I have posted on here....actually about five months, entirely way to long. So, what's been going on?!?!?

Well, there has been a lot that has gone on in the past  five months.  When I lasted posted on here, I talked about how the trip that I had planned to go on this past  summer had been cancelled.  Well, I was able to just switch teams from the Ethiopia team to the Sierra Leone team. I left for the summer June 15th.  I was gone for seven weeks. After those seven weeks I was so ready to be back home, but there was a part of me that was left in the country of Sierra Leone.  There will forever be a piece of me that is left there. I pray that some day, I am able to return to the country of Sierra Leone and continue to minister to the people of the country.  There were so many things that I learned this past summer. One of the things that I learned is to rely fully on God, because I can NOT  do it on my own at all. I have to rely on him for all my strength.  Those are just some of the things that I learned and things that God taught me when I was gone this summer.

When I returned home I struggled with health problems.  Part of it was from a virus that I caught when I got back to America.  I was so exhausted, both mentally and physically.  There were other things that followed me being sick, but two months after being home, I am feeling so much better.  You don't know when Christ is going to call you home, so you need to take advantage of every moment that you have here on earth and serve him.  Life is short and you never know when you will be called home.  It is a good thing to just slow down and appreciate the little things and appreciate the people in your life.

Since I have been back I have also started school back.  Mid-Terms are QUICKLY approaching.  Some even this week.  My school career is getting much more difficult as I progress in my work, but I am getting closer and closer to attaining my goal.  This May I will graduate MCC with my Associates Degree and I am so very excited that I am finishing this part of my goal!!!

There are so many things that I could write about, but time does not always allow for it unfortunately.  There is so much that is going on in the world today and there is also a lot that is going on politically. I am looking forward to my later blogs about some of the things that are going on politically in America as well as some other things. :)

Until then....God Bless.

Sometimes God Has Other Plans

As I have gotten older I have made plans for myself, like where I am going to school, what I want to major in, and so on. But, there are times in my life where God has other plans. In my first post, I said that I was headed to Ethiopia this summer, well, that has changed, I will no longer be going to Ethiopia. I am instead, headed to Sierra Leone, Africa. To better explain the reasoning, here is a copy of the email that I received a few days ago....

Dear Britt,

We have had a late developing situation that has forced me to make some changes in our teams. I am sorry to inform you that due to a serious health issue with another mission trip leader, I have to reassign Holly Duke and Margaret Fischer. Unfortunately, this means that we are going to have to cancel the Ethiopia mission trip.

Reign Ministries is committed to providing the highest quality leadership. Therefore, we only allow Reign Ministries staff to lead teams. Normally I would replace Holly and Margaret with other leaders, but with the additional loss of the original leader, Matt Halseth, we simply do not have anyone with enough training to send to Ethiopia in their place.

Therefore, I am going to ask you to consider switching to another team. We have enough spots open on Sierra Leone if everyone would want to stay in Africa. However, we also have openings on the India, China, EuroQuest, and London mission trips, which are also amazing!

You will receive a call within the next day from either Holly or Margaret. They will answer any questions you have and discuss the team options that are open.

One last word of encouragement: I have led teams for 30 years. As a leader, I grow attached to an area, a people group, and the missionaries/churches I work with. In my career I have had to give up where I was working five times to fill in the leadership on another mission trip...and hardly ever to a location I wanted to go to! And even though my heart was set to work in a specific country (especially my switch from Romania to China) I wouldn't trade the experience. Those switch years were some of the best and most transformational in all my years of leadership. I learned two (among many) things:
Lesson 1 - God is not always so interested in where I go, but that I go.
Lesson 2 - Learning trust and faith comes at a cost. God showed me He wants me to trust and praise Him even when I don't get what I want.

I can't promise you how God will work in your life. But based on what I have experienced of the faithfulness of the Father, if you can trust and praise Him in the midst of change, I believe God will bless you beyond what can expect or believe.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns.

Blessings,
Tom Ives
Director of Royal Servants
Reign Ministries

I was contacted by one of the team leaders the same day that I got this email and we talked and I told her that I would email her within the next 24 hours and I would let her know what I would do. So, I spent a large portion of Thursday evening in prayer. I emailed Margaret and I told her that I would like to switch to the Sierra Leone team. My heart is still in Africa and it always has been, for years, it has been for years.

Sometimes God closes one door to open a better one. He has a plan for me this summer and his plan was not for me to go to Ethiopia it was for me to go to Sierra Leone. Sometimes, God has other plans for us, we just have to listen to his calling and his voice.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

The Little Things: Don't worry :)

I teach three and four year old's at my church on Wednesday Nights. I have been teaching them for almost two years now, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Those kids are the sweetest things! Though, I will admit, it defiantly has it's challenges. I prepare a lesson each week to teach them, and there are some weeks were I just grow weary and I want to just not do anything and not go to class that week. That is where I have to rely on Christ to get me through. And after every class, I NEVER regret going. :)  As adults, we tend to over look the little things in life. We get so wrapped up with school, work, families, kids, and so on, and we don't ever take time to just stop and take a look at the little things in life. Watching these kids week to week has reminded me about the little things in life. Seeing them run around on the playground, watching them color, watching them sing, and watching them practice what they learned reminds me of the verse in the Bible that talks about how we are not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has its own worries. Those kids remind me of that. They don't worry about what there friends think when they walk into class wearing a Cinderella Dress and cowboy boots, they don't worry if they color outside of the lines on their coloring page, they are just enjoying life and enjoying who they are. We can learn so much from kids. One thing is, little things: don't worry!! Little things sometimes seem to make us either have a really bad day or a really good day. Don't worry if you don't get your hair just right in the mornings, God still loves you! So, just take sometime each day and be thankful for the little things that are in our lives. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

Helping When Others Are In Need

I read a devotion online this morning that I got in my email and It was about this lady who was purchasing an item at one of her local stores. She knew one of the young girls that worked there and the young girl was in need of a ride home and before the girl could ask, the woman said that she could take the girl home. After I read the story and all the other things that were attached to the email, I stopped and thought, how many times in a day do I just think about me? I think about me a lot and I think that it is safe to say that you think a lot about you too. We are only human, it is natural to do that. But as a Christian and being one of God's own, we have a higher calling than that. We are called to help others in need and help those who need our help. Everyone helps someone else in their own way, some are able to give money and others are able to give up of their time. We all help and give to others in need in our own way. Here is my challenge to you today, take a minute and do something for someone else in need. Let's change our focus from a "me" focus to one that is not so focused on ourselves.

Ethiopia, Summer 2012

I would like to share with you an exciting opportunity that I have been given again for this summer.  A few summers ago, I was blessed with the opportunity to serve Christ on the mission field in Europe, this summer God has called me back to the mission field. From June 16-August 4, I, Lord willing, will be going on a mission trip to Ethiopia with Royal Servants.  Royal Servants gives teens and young adults a life-changing experience with God that drives what we know about God from our heads to our hearts.  The idea behind Royal Servants is to expose us to the world’s burning need for a Savior, to equip us to meet that need, and then to send us back home to be actively involved serving their own church.  I will have a chance to share the gospel and be intentionally disciplined in order to grow in my personal walk with God.  Royal Servants will be an experience of a lifetime!             Royal Servants goes to many destinations. Of the destinations, I felt led to go to Ethiopia.  For about seven weeks we will dedicate our lives to serving others.  We will fly in to Ethiopia and we will work alongside local Christians and NGO’s in Addis Ababa and the surrounding communities.  We will be using dramas, dance, and puppets to reach out through public performances, which will draw a crowd and we will be able share our faith in Christ.  We will also be working with the poor and the orphans in an area that desperately needs the hope of the gospel.

            I am so excited to be able to have this opportunity and I can't wait to go!!!! :)