My friends, I am excited. God planted a crazy idea in my head last August that has begun to flourish into a reality. I am eager to share about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity my close friend Brady and I have been given.
We will be embarking on an 8,000 mile trip around the United States. On our mopeds.
http://www.mopedjusticemission.blogspot.com/
This blog will be our primary medium for providing updates on our adventure. Please share this with any other friends you know who would enjoy hearing about God's plan for justice, or just to see an example of the unique and exciting opportunities God has in store for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
Just about every day I literally become giddy with excitement when I realize the reality of this trip.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
A new medical breakthrough in restful sleep!!
...Ask for it.
(I am writing this in an effort to better document even the 'smallest' ways God is mindful of me.)
I am in the midst of my spring 'break' from school, and I immediately seized the free time to earn some extra funding for God's plan for my summer.. From 8pm on Friday night until 4am on Sunday morning I worked 23 of 32 hours. Sunday was filled with church events and meetings, and I was staring down the barrel of another night shift that night. If I didn't obtain some needed sleep Sunday afternoon I would be sitting at 6 hours of sleep over a 72 hour period. Maybe not the healtiest routine. Even the military recommends more sleep than that as a daily minimum. (They claim you can operate efficiently on 4 hours of sleep per night for prolonged periods of time. The Army says that, anyway. The Marine Corps says you can sleep when you're dead. I'm going to miss my beloved Corps.)
I had work at 8pm, and laid down around 5:30. Just before falling asleep, I quietly prayed that God would grant me a very restful time of sleep. I fell asleep very quickly, feeling like I could sleep for 12 hours. In Sunday school earlier that day we looked at James 1:2-12, which shows us what our response should be to trials of various kinds. Having my alarm set for 7:30pm, I sensed a small trial coming on when I inexplicably snapped awake at 6:39. After just a few minutes of laying wide awake in bed I realized my time would be better spent on more productive endeavors. (although I was thinking sleep to be a pretty noble endeavor at the time) Based on my study of James 1, I knew I shouldn't ask God what he was trying to prove, but trust that this small trial would mature me in a special way. (Praise the Lord for Sunday school, by the way)
Around 1am I realized that I was still wide awake. I had a pretty strong headache, but I didn't feel tired. I even closed my eyes during a half-hour break at 2am, but couldn't fall asleep. Now, to the untrained eye, you may say that I was just using my incredibly strong will-power and determination to overcome any fatigue. Wrong. I happen to know myself, and I am acutely aware that my 'will-power' is composed of the same toughness you would find in mashed potatoes and gravy.
As I was thinking about it, I was likening this to the story of Gideon, when God reduced the army of thousands to just 300, so that HE would receive the glory, and not Gideon or any army. God knows my pride's tendency to seek glory for myself. If I had awakened with the alarm and rushed to work, I would have thought nothing of it. I would have made it through the night and really felt good about myself. (key word being 'myself') The abridged sleep gave me pause, though, and opened the opportunity for God to show me a little something about HIS capabilities, even in the small matters of my life.
This is just one bite of the feast of provision that God is pouring out on me.
Post-script: I was still wide-awake after work, but after tending to some emails, I decided that sleep was again a noble endeavor. So I slept a few hours.
(I am writing this in an effort to better document even the 'smallest' ways God is mindful of me.)
I am in the midst of my spring 'break' from school, and I immediately seized the free time to earn some extra funding for God's plan for my summer.. From 8pm on Friday night until 4am on Sunday morning I worked 23 of 32 hours. Sunday was filled with church events and meetings, and I was staring down the barrel of another night shift that night. If I didn't obtain some needed sleep Sunday afternoon I would be sitting at 6 hours of sleep over a 72 hour period. Maybe not the healtiest routine. Even the military recommends more sleep than that as a daily minimum. (They claim you can operate efficiently on 4 hours of sleep per night for prolonged periods of time. The Army says that, anyway. The Marine Corps says you can sleep when you're dead. I'm going to miss my beloved Corps.)
I had work at 8pm, and laid down around 5:30. Just before falling asleep, I quietly prayed that God would grant me a very restful time of sleep. I fell asleep very quickly, feeling like I could sleep for 12 hours. In Sunday school earlier that day we looked at James 1:2-12, which shows us what our response should be to trials of various kinds. Having my alarm set for 7:30pm, I sensed a small trial coming on when I inexplicably snapped awake at 6:39. After just a few minutes of laying wide awake in bed I realized my time would be better spent on more productive endeavors. (although I was thinking sleep to be a pretty noble endeavor at the time) Based on my study of James 1, I knew I shouldn't ask God what he was trying to prove, but trust that this small trial would mature me in a special way. (Praise the Lord for Sunday school, by the way)
Around 1am I realized that I was still wide awake. I had a pretty strong headache, but I didn't feel tired. I even closed my eyes during a half-hour break at 2am, but couldn't fall asleep. Now, to the untrained eye, you may say that I was just using my incredibly strong will-power and determination to overcome any fatigue. Wrong. I happen to know myself, and I am acutely aware that my 'will-power' is composed of the same toughness you would find in mashed potatoes and gravy.
As I was thinking about it, I was likening this to the story of Gideon, when God reduced the army of thousands to just 300, so that HE would receive the glory, and not Gideon or any army. God knows my pride's tendency to seek glory for myself. If I had awakened with the alarm and rushed to work, I would have thought nothing of it. I would have made it through the night and really felt good about myself. (key word being 'myself') The abridged sleep gave me pause, though, and opened the opportunity for God to show me a little something about HIS capabilities, even in the small matters of my life.
This is just one bite of the feast of provision that God is pouring out on me.
Post-script: I was still wide-awake after work, but after tending to some emails, I decided that sleep was again a noble endeavor. So I slept a few hours.
I Timothy 5:11
"But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry..." I Timothy 5:11
I spent a good deal of time last week thinking about, pondering, and meditating on this verse. Why would I choose such an abstract selection to spend so much time thinking about, you ask? Because I was told to.
In an email I received from a good friend (to fully appreciate this story, you should know that this good friend is an unmarried young lady) they told me they were praying for me from I Tim. 5:11 and went on to say that they were praying that I would be strengthened to run from anything less than His best.. etc. So, I looked up the passage and read it. I blinked my eyes and re-read it. My eyes grew large and my eyebrows raised. I was confused. And a little distressed.
One of my first thoughts and hopes was that she clearly gave the wrong reference. I flipped over to 2 Timothy, but that book only has 4 chapters!! I then began to try to think outside the box, wondering what she may be trying to say with this verse. I've come to admire her knowledge of scripture and her ability to dispense passages from memory and expound on them, but this was a whole new level of depth.
"So.. Am I the young widow here? She IS praying that I would run from anything less than his best.. Is she saying that if I desire marriage I'm not desiring what's best? Is she saying my other passions are drawing me away from Christ? What makes her think I desire marriage? Is SHE the young widow?! That would make a little more sense, but neither of us have been married, to my knowledge. But that scenario doesn't make as much sense in the context of what she followed the verse with.. Am I somehow drawing her away from Christ? Does SHE desire to marry?! AAAUGH!! I am SO confused! I feel like she's using a pretty straightforward verse, given the context, and taking a LOT of creative liberties with the interpretation. But she's not Baptist, so maybe she can do that. (HA!)"
I went to bed that night with no conclusions on how to receive that verse. The next morning, still completely perplexed, I recruited the assistance of the most Christ-like man you or I know. My dad. In an email with the subject line titled, "Care to interpret?" I pasted the paragraph from the email along with the remarks, "This was sent to me by a young lady yesterday. Trying to understand what the 5:11 passage is about.."
I scooted off to class, fully confident that my father would come through for me. I was right. As I was waiting for my second class to begin I checked my email and found a message from my father with these words, "A quick response.....she must have meant 6:11..................5:11 would be quite disturbing......6:11 has the words she included in the message........"
I quickly pulled out my Bible and flipped to I Timothy 6:11, which reads, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness." That fit with what she was saying SO much better.
I replied back to my father, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Oh man!!!!!! I figured it was a mistaken passage, but I looked to 2 Tim... Didn't think about a different chapter. YES, 5:11 WAS somewhat disturbing. 6:11 is better. Much better. I'm losing it right now. No bearing."
The mystery was solved! Unfortunately I was in a quiet classroom, unable to unleash the uproarious laughter that had immediately welled up inside me. I sent a quick email to my friend saying, "I'm going to have to call you later. Your email has just been immortalized as an instant classic in my heart. Oh mercy, I'm having a hard time not laughing.."
After I scooted home in between classes I walked in my door and doubled over in the kitchen laughing, unable to catch my breath from this priceless gem of an incorrect scripture reference. Later that night my friend and I did have a very pleasant talk on the phone, and my smiling continued well into the night. I can say with confidence that during my time in Minnesota, no event has produced more laughter for me.
I spent a good deal of time last week thinking about, pondering, and meditating on this verse. Why would I choose such an abstract selection to spend so much time thinking about, you ask? Because I was told to.
In an email I received from a good friend (to fully appreciate this story, you should know that this good friend is an unmarried young lady) they told me they were praying for me from I Tim. 5:11 and went on to say that they were praying that I would be strengthened to run from anything less than His best.. etc. So, I looked up the passage and read it. I blinked my eyes and re-read it. My eyes grew large and my eyebrows raised. I was confused. And a little distressed.
One of my first thoughts and hopes was that she clearly gave the wrong reference. I flipped over to 2 Timothy, but that book only has 4 chapters!! I then began to try to think outside the box, wondering what she may be trying to say with this verse. I've come to admire her knowledge of scripture and her ability to dispense passages from memory and expound on them, but this was a whole new level of depth.
"So.. Am I the young widow here? She IS praying that I would run from anything less than his best.. Is she saying that if I desire marriage I'm not desiring what's best? Is she saying my other passions are drawing me away from Christ? What makes her think I desire marriage? Is SHE the young widow?! That would make a little more sense, but neither of us have been married, to my knowledge. But that scenario doesn't make as much sense in the context of what she followed the verse with.. Am I somehow drawing her away from Christ? Does SHE desire to marry?! AAAUGH!! I am SO confused! I feel like she's using a pretty straightforward verse, given the context, and taking a LOT of creative liberties with the interpretation. But she's not Baptist, so maybe she can do that. (HA!)"
I went to bed that night with no conclusions on how to receive that verse. The next morning, still completely perplexed, I recruited the assistance of the most Christ-like man you or I know. My dad. In an email with the subject line titled, "Care to interpret?" I pasted the paragraph from the email along with the remarks, "This was sent to me by a young lady yesterday. Trying to understand what the 5:11 passage is about.."
I scooted off to class, fully confident that my father would come through for me. I was right. As I was waiting for my second class to begin I checked my email and found a message from my father with these words, "A quick response.....she must have meant 6:11..................5:11 would be quite disturbing......6:11 has the words she included in the message........"
I quickly pulled out my Bible and flipped to I Timothy 6:11, which reads, "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness." That fit with what she was saying SO much better.
I replied back to my father, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Oh man!!!!!! I figured it was a mistaken passage, but I looked to 2 Tim... Didn't think about a different chapter. YES, 5:11 WAS somewhat disturbing. 6:11 is better. Much better. I'm losing it right now. No bearing."
The mystery was solved! Unfortunately I was in a quiet classroom, unable to unleash the uproarious laughter that had immediately welled up inside me. I sent a quick email to my friend saying, "I'm going to have to call you later. Your email has just been immortalized as an instant classic in my heart. Oh mercy, I'm having a hard time not laughing.."
After I scooted home in between classes I walked in my door and doubled over in the kitchen laughing, unable to catch my breath from this priceless gem of an incorrect scripture reference. Later that night my friend and I did have a very pleasant talk on the phone, and my smiling continued well into the night. I can say with confidence that during my time in Minnesota, no event has produced more laughter for me.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tapioca
An original poem by Jonathan Stockeland
Tapioca is a treat
That I really rather like to eat.
Tapioca, hot or cold
Cures even the most common cold.
Tapioca in a bowl
Reminds me of times so long ago.
Tapioca in a mixing bowl
Is a single serving for me alone.
For this poem to continue on
There are other sounds I must rely upon.
Tapioca is really great
Sometimes even with strawberry shortcake.
Tapioca is a dessert
Extracted from an Amazonian root.
Tapioca, now I turn to you
You are a wonderful, creamy, tasty goo.
Tapioca, whether served thick or thin
You have brought me through thick and... thin.
Tapioca, I can say no more
For I must pack my bags and run to the store.
Take that, Robert Frost.
Tapioca is a treat
That I really rather like to eat.
Tapioca, hot or cold
Cures even the most common cold.
Tapioca in a bowl
Reminds me of times so long ago.
Tapioca in a mixing bowl
Is a single serving for me alone.
For this poem to continue on
There are other sounds I must rely upon.
Tapioca is really great
Sometimes even with strawberry shortcake.
Tapioca is a dessert
Extracted from an Amazonian root.
Tapioca, now I turn to you
You are a wonderful, creamy, tasty goo.
Tapioca, whether served thick or thin
You have brought me through thick and... thin.
Tapioca, I can say no more
For I must pack my bags and run to the store.
Take that, Robert Frost.
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