What I Am Learning In Scripture This Week: Daniel Follows God at Whatever Cost

Do you ever get scared or anxious to do something because you’re scared of what the result might be?  I’ve felt that way before, and Daniel in the Bible has given me a lot of encouragement in that area of my life.  Daniel is an intriguing character because his actions could have ended up putting in hot water, but he didn’t seem to care.  Why?  That’s what I hope to write out here as an encouragement to us all.

In the book of Daniel, chapter 2, God gives Daniel the ability to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of this statue.  The dream prophesied the destruction of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule one day. That’s not exactly the best thing to tell the king, but Daniel does.  And the king respects Daniel’s ability to interpret the dream so much that he proclaimed in chapter 2 verse 47: “The king said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.“  So Daniel’s work led the king to praise God but also Daniel.  Daniel was promoted to a very high position in that government.

But here’s the kicker- in the next chapter of Daniel, the king starts to build this statue out of pure gold (different than the dream) to show his power in the land.  Then the king declares this: Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language:  As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” (Dan. 3:4-6)

So in a way, this statue that Daniel was able to interpret the meaning of in a dream, would eventually lead his good friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to a blazing hot fire because they would not bow down to anyone except God.  But this was part of God’s plan, and those 3 friends of Daniel came out unblemished from the fire (not to mention they were seen with a fourth person coming out of the furnace- God was with them!).

Next we see Daniel interpret another dream that doesn’t have a favorable outcome for the king (chapter 4).  Despite what it could have cost him by interpretting these dreams, Daniel spoke it out.  Why would he fear anyway- God gave him the ability to do it.  So if he used that ability for God, theres really nothing to worry about.

And finally, Daniel flourishes under the direction of a new king- King Darius.  Darius keeps Daniel in a position of authority, and with that authority came the chance for people to try to accuse him.  This still happens today- people with authority are spoken against or acted against.  Just look at our government and our churches today.  But Daniel pressed on with what he was doing.  In an attempt to “trap” Daniel, some leaders urged the king to set a decree that anyone who prays to anyone other than Darius be thrown in a lion’s den.  Of course Daniel would not pray to Darius because he has shown who his allegience is to- God.  So this leads to Daniel being thrown in a lion’s den.

But God protected Daniel.  He came out unblemished from a night with the lions.  And God protected Daniel’s friends, who were also faithful to God.  So whatever the cost, following God is worth the temporary pain that is brought your way by people trying to undermine or go against you.

Flying with the Newsboys, Phil Joel, Matthew West, Bebo Norman, & Aaron Shust

Flying from Seattle to Nashville on Saturday coming back from the mission trip in Canada was an awesome flight.  As I walked onto the plane, I looked to my left and saw the Newsboys sitting there!  If that wasn’t cool enough, Phil Joel (who used to play with the Newsboys but is now a solo artist with his own band) was sitting halfway back in the plane!  He was with his wife and kids.  I got the aisle seat in the very back left row, next to the bathroom.  That turned out to be a crucial seat because on a 5 hour flight, almost everyone goes to the bathroom.

Sure enough, Phil Joel had to use the bathroom.  I figured he couldn’t go anywhere on the plane, so I might as well try to talk to him.  So I did.  And he told me that he was on a Christian concert cruise with Matthew West, Bebo Norman, and Aaron Shust.  I asked if he was with the Newsboys, but he said no; they just happened to be on the same plane.  When he sat down, I got to thinking that if he is heading home to Nashville from this cruise, maybe the other musicians who were on the cruise might be on this plane.  Sure enough, they were!

I looked up and saw Matthew West sitting near Phil Joel with his wife and daughter.  He came back to the bathroom too, so I talked to him.

Bebo Norman was sitting close to Matthew West on the plane.  He had to use the bathroom too.  So I talked to him.  He talked for a little while and was very nice.  He told me how his wife is from Baltimore and that they were heading to Baltimore just like we were.  We actually were on the next plane with him to Baltimore too. He has a new record coming out next month.  You ought to get it.

I didn’t get to talk to Aaron Shust.  He must have used the bathroom in the front of the plane.  But it goes to show that bathroom seats aren’t always bad.

Here are a couple pics with Ian, a friend of mine on the mission team.

Phil Joel with Ian and me.

Bebo Norman with Ian and me.

Final Thoughts on Canada’s Mission Trip

I’m home in Baltimore now.  We returned at about 11:00pm, then had to adjust to the time change, then be at the church at 7:00am!  I slept all afternoon and now I’m awake enough to finish these thoughts.

After doing ministry in Canada for a week, here’s what I learned:

-God is the God of all nations.  He is everywhere.  And there are people all over the world who worship Him.

-A lot of people do not believe Jesus Christ is the only way.  I knew this before, but after this trip, I’m reminded again of it and it has led me to a greater passion for reaching the lost people in the community around me.  Churches have become so comfortable that we forget there are other people around us.

-Sin has a nasty way of marring the image of God.  I saw people who were so controlled by sin it created in them a hopeless lifestyle (they think; they just need to discover the hope of Christ) that resulted in some people seeming more like animals than humans.

-Some people are so blind to the truth of Christ.  One conversation with a Buddhist priest will show you that.

-God gifts people in different ways to build up His Kingdom.  Our team was so effective and it was so neat to see how everyone used their gifts so well.  Some of our team was gifted in working with children.  Others were gifted in cooking and being helpful in the kitchen.  Some led devotions and others were prayer warriors.  Some led and others followed.  It’s wonderful being a part of a family where everyone is so useful if they use their gifts to serve the Lord.

Mission trips always impact the missionary.  This one is no different.  Thank you to my church family, Bethel, for supporting missions and for sending our team to Richmond, Canada.

What A Waste

Today I experienced something I never have before, and it’s something I’ll never forget.  On our week of mission work in Richmond, Canada, we visited some temples today on what is called the “Highway to Heaven.”  We visited a Hindu temple, a Siek temple, a Muslim mosque (although it was not open), and a Buddhist temple.  I couldn’t believe what I saw.

We took our shoes off to enter these temples.  We were respectful as visitors to their buildings, but the whole time I walked into these temples I couldn’t help but think how pointless it all was.  The two that most impacted me were the Hindu and Buddhist temple.  The Hindu temple showcased beautiful statues of some of their gods.  We were told there are more than 30 million gods in the Hindu religion.  Some are monkeys and some are elephants.  We took pictures of a lot of the different parts of the Hindu temple.  We walked into the large room where Hindu people will go to take their fruit as an offering to the gods.  They place in the area designated for offerings.  Those fruits are considered holy after being sacrificed and they are later given to people to eat.  I was amazed at how these people bring fruit to a porcelain monkey and try to live their lives in such a way that that monkey will allow them to have a happy after-life.  What a waste.  All the money going into that temple; the fruit being given; the statues and mythological stories behind them; it’s all in vain.

But the most unbelievable experience was visiting the Buddhist temple.  The architecture is amazing, but again, it’s such a waste.  We walked in and felt like we walked into China in the inner court room.  There were incense burning areas and all kinds of rooms in this court room.  People who walked in would bow to each other while holding their hands like they were praying.  Some walked around in long gray robes.  We met one and talked with her for a while.  We found out she was the master priest there.  Of all 40 priests, all of them were women!  And they all shaved their hair off.  We talked with her for a while, asking questions about what she did and what Buddhists believed.  She said things that made my heart cringe because she is so lost.  She told us that there is no origin of life or death; it’s just a big cycle.  She told us they believe in reincarnation because there is no other way to explain how a white American child could speak an Indian language (that was her actual example).  But the killer to me was when she said that the reason they chant (a priest was chanting in a microphone up in the worship room and it was amplified around the whole temple) is to purify their minds, and that if they purify their minds to such a point where they could connect to Buddha, then they would instantly be transported to “Buddha-land”.  That was the end of the life cycle for a person if they were good enough to get to this land.  You wouldn’t believe the room where people go to worship.  We went in, but couldn’t take pictures.  There were huge statues of Buddha in the front, and thousands of small Buddhas in the wall the whole way around.  People were bowing on mats after taking their fruit as sacrifices to Buddha.  The master priest we were talking with was not able to answer some of the questions asked to her because she didn’t have a good answer.  She avoided many questions even, and it seems that she is just brainwashed into this way of thinking and living.

What a waste.

I say it’s a waste because it doesn’t make sense to me why anyone would believe in a religion that demanded so much of them with no eternal security.  Even the master priest, when asked if she was guaranteed heaven, said no.  It depends on what she does in this life.  It’s a works-based religion.  Same as Hindu.  Same as Sieks.  It’s all based on works.

But I believe in Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to die for me and all people, to take our sins for us, and asks that we believe in Him and live our lives the way He did.  My salvation in not based on anything I did, or I wouldn’t be saved!  It’s based on the grace of God who sent His Son to die for me.  I know for sure that I will spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus because He said it.

But so many people are deceived by sinful things of this world.  And it’s a waste.  Jesus is the only way to Heaven.  Jesus is the only hope we have in this world because He created it.  But these temples and the people running them have broken from the original design of our Creator.  And it’s a waste.

Teaching kids that Jesus is the only way was the focus of the mission team this morning.  Today was the last morning of VBS.  Afterwards, some families joined us for lunch and a closing program.  The gospel was shared one last time to these kids and their families.  We know seeds were planted and we’re hoping for fruit to come.  Ian and I are still looking to see Muhammed one more time for some basketball.  The goal is set up now!  So we can play and take a little time tomorrow hopefully to tell him about Jesus.

There are no planned ministry activities tomorrow.  We will be sightseeing in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.  It’s an island and we’re taking a ferry out to it then spending time on it.  Although no planned activities are set for tomorrow, God has his way of providing “divine appointments” as He has been all week.

One more full day here.  Let’s see what God does!

Another Day in Canada

One more day of ministry done now in Richmond, Canada.  Today brought some new experiences since our schedule changed a little bit.  There’s beautiful weather here- probably in the 60s with some breezes.  They measure everything in Celsius, so I don’t know what the temperature was in Fahrenheit.  But it is very nice.  Today was a sunny day and another day to do God’s work here.

This morning was VBS again.  The Lou family was back today!!  I mentioned them in yesterday’s post, and God somehow made a way for the children to come back to VBS.  The men worked on painting the side of the church, right under the roof.  We were doing some trim work on ladders.  It wasn’t too scary being up there!  Some pictures are here.

Ian and I had a little surprise this morning when the basketball goal we tried to put up for Muhammed yesterday was laying on the ground!  We decided we would go get the materials to do it right instead of just using what was available at the time.  So we went to Home Depot and got some better supplies and reset the goal in new cement and tied it up better.  It was still up tonight, so tomorrow should be okay.  Muhammed is so excited about playing basketball with us so we’re hoping this time it works out.  We have been able to build a really good relationship with him, so we’re hoping tomorrow might be the day to really share the gospel of Jesus with him.  Keep praying for him, it’s getting closer and closer and he just might come to the point of salvation.  We’ll see.  It’s not in our hands; we’ll just plant the seed.

We had some rest time in the afternoon because tonight we spent the evening helping with “Night Shift,” a street ministry in the nearby town of Surrey.  They have a feeding every night for the homeless people in the area.  They see nearly 200 people for these feedings!  We helped serve food tonight and had one of those experiences that leaves you feeling nearly depressed.  Depressed because you see what a life of drug addiction can do to people.  Depressed because you see so much pain and hurt in the eyes of these people but yet no desire from most to turn to the only hope- Jesus.  Depressed because many of the people who come for help are not grateful at all and don’t seem to want to change.  I wonder how often we do that with God.  We’re ungrateful for all the things he gives us and does for us.  We are given what we need but still complain that we want ham instead of peanut butter and jelly.  I really have no words to say to describe this experience.  There are people all over the world who need help like this.  But they need not just food, but they need the freeing gospel of Jesus to be taught to them.  We cannot only promote social programs, but we must promote social ministries where the spiritual food of Jesus is given as well.

Tuesday in Canada

So we’ve been here 3 full days in Richmond, Canada, and have had many opportunities to meet people, work with kids, and take advantage of sporadic opportunities to show the love of Jesus to people here.  Everyone is still in good shape and things are going well.

This morning was more VBS.  There were 5 kids who didn’t come back from yesterday, but there were 6 new kids!  Our ladies worked very hard teaching songs, Bible stories, and games to the kids. We found out the reason a couple kids weren’t there today who were yesterday was because mom is a Christian but dad isn’t.  Dad found out they went to VBS yesterday and got very upset and told mom not to take them today.  She called the pastor’s wife and was crying because of it, but doesn’t want to go against her husband.  So that’s what we’re up against here with so many religions and some being in opposition to Christianity.  We’re praying for God to soften the heart of this dad so that his kids can come hear about Jesus.

While the ladies were leading VBS, some of our men were painting a room in the church.  We finished it this morning, but might touch it up some tomorrow.  A picture of Pastor Paul, myself, and Ian is below.  Tomorrow, our project is to get on ladders about 20 feet high to scrap the outside trim of the church building, prime it, then repaint it.  I’m afraid of heights, so we’ll see how that goes!

Our afternoon was spent at the same park as yesterday.  We met some new kids as they came for face painting and to hit the baseball around.  I was able to engage in a discussion with a man who has his grandson in the park.  He had been in Richmond for 30 years, had a thick British accent, and talked to me about the changes the city has been going through in the past 10 years since Hong Kong gained independence from Great Britain and migrated into Richmond.  We talked for a while and got onto the topic of religion a little bit, but there just wasn’t enough time to really engage in a conversation about Jesus.

That’s the difficult part of a short-term mission trip like this.  You only have quick times with people and aren’t able to build relationships with people like long-term missionaries are.  But we are planting many seeds here.  I hope God let’s us have the privilege of growing those seeds, but maybe we aren’t the people for that.

Ian and I had a great ministry opportunity tonight.  We were at the church, just outside of it, grilling hamburgers for dinner.  We looked across the parking lot to the house next door and this young teenage boy was digging a hole then trying to put a basketball goal in the hole to set it in position so he can play.  He was struggling horribly and wasn’t going to be able to do it right anyway with just putting dirt in the hole he dug around the post!  So Ian and I headed over to help him.  He was receptive of that, so we jumped in there and asked him if he had any cement.  He did, so we mixed it up in the hole, and helped him prepare that hole for the goal to be put in.  We learned that his name is Muhammed and that he is from Dubai in the Middle East.  He speaks fluent Arabic and was speaking it with his little sister, who came out to see what we were up to.  Ian and I went in to eat dinner while we let the cement sit a while.  After we ate, we went back out to help him set the goal in the hole.  We got it all rigged up to be held up overnight while the cement dries.  I hope it’s still up tomorrow morning!  But Muhammed was excited to play basketball with us.  Since he’s so close, we’ll see him again for sure and we’ll be able to continue building on this relationship.  I asked him if he went to the church and he said he goes to another one.  I asked him which on and he said the mosque!  I asked him if he is a Muslim, and he said he was.  So this is what God put right in front of us to have an opportunity to minister to this young guy and maybe even his family.  Pray for Muhammed.

Tomorrow’s schedule will be different.  We’ll have some opportunities to do some different types of ministries, but VBS is still in the morning.  We’ll be doing some work in the evening with a ministry to homeless people, so I’m hoping there is some great work awaiting us there.

Check back tomorrow to see what happens on Wednesday!

Canada, eh?

It’s Monday night, 8:30 as I write now to update you of the things happening with Bethel’s mission team in Richmond, Canada. I’m back at the hotel now after the second full day here, and the first full ministry day. Everyone is doing well, things are going well, and it looks like it will be a great rest of the week!

Yesterday, all things went well in our morning worship. Our host church, Richmond Faith Fellowship (RFF), was a large church until the community went through many changes. Those changes affected the church and now around 30 people meet to worship on Sunday mornings. We joined them. This picture is Aimee and me leading a few songs during the worship.

I preached and it was a unique experience. I was out of my comfortable “home” setting and was among people of many nationalities. I was afraid my style would be too different or the way my voice sounds, but I realized that God is the God of ALL NATIONS, and as long as I speak truth from His Word, I have nothing to worry about.

Richmond is a diverse city. There are many Chinese people, some Indian people, some Middle Eastern people, and probably other nationalities too. Many languages are spoken here too, but English is common. Communication can be difficult with some people who don’t speak English well, but there haven’t been many problems yet with communication.

Besides nationalities, Richmond has a presence of many religions. There are Buddhists, Muslims, Sieks, Christians, Jehovah’s Witness, and Hindus. It was a little alarming at first to walk in the neighborhood around the church yesterday and be approached by a man with a turban on! He was very nice to talk to, but he and many others around will not have eternal life with Jesus. Hopefully we’ll be able to change some of that this week. We drove down a road yesterday by accident (we’re taking a real tour of it Thursday) called the “Highway to Heaven”. It has all kinds of temples on it. A beautiful Buddhist temple made me feel like I was in China! We have much work to do in helping our small host church reach out to their community this week.

Last night, Nikki and I and another couple Ian and Erin decided we weren’t ready to go back to our hotel. So we drove to Vancouver and decided we would explore some. Vancouver was only north about 10-15 minutes. We just drove around looking at everything we could. Vancouver is a beautiful city! It was very clean and had a lot of interesting buildings. We saw buildings being built for the winter Olympics of 2010. We stopped at a point where the background was big mountains and the cityscape of Vancouver. It was much different than Baltimore! We’re going back to Vancouver tomorrow night I think.

Today was the start of VBS at the host church. This is the first year RFF has ever tried to do a VBS. Our team is pretty doing it all and being flexible with it to accommodate their needs. RFF was about to cancel VBS because no kids pre-registered. They decided instead that they would step out in faith and pray that God would send the kids. Yesterday afternoon we went to all the houses in the immediate neighborhood to put out flyers and door hangers promoting VBS. This morning, after almost cancelling VBS, God answered our request and sent 25 kids!!!! I was just amazed at how God provides and how nothing stops Him from bringing glory to His name! Pray that even more kids will come this week. I don’t know what kind of religious background these kids have, but they will be hearing the gospel of Jesus this week. Here are some pictures of VBS.

Mainly the ladies on our team are leading VBS. The men are helping with some projects in the church like painting and other improvements. We’re trying to get their building improved a little bit so they will be able to continue ministry in the future in all parts of their building.

This afternoon was a great experience of what we’re calling “park evangelism.” There is a little park near the church with playgrounds, fields (a nice astro-turf soccer field even), a small water playground, and some tables/benches. We took some face paint, a frisbee, a wiffle ball and bat, some water and sodas, and some Bibles and tried to just meet some people who were there. Many kids were flocking to the table where faces were being painted by our ladies, and some of the guys walked around inviting kids to hit the wiffle ball. We probably saw 20 kids and some of their parents come to the area we were in. The kids were taking turns hitting the ball and loving it! They got their faces painted and we gave them drinks. Some of the kids received Bibles and most received a flyer and invitation to come to VBS. Hopefully we’ll see these kids again. We’re going back tomorrow I think, and the kids were asking what time we would be at the park. We had a lot of fun with them that should lead to a time to tell them the gospel instead of just showing it. Some pictures of the park evangelism are here.

The one thing I was really hoping to see was a real, live Canadian Mountie, like I used to see on that TV show Northern Exposure when I was kid. I thought they’d be up here riding all over the place in their red suits on horses. But this is the closest I’ve gotten so far:

So I’m looking forward to the mission work tomorrow. There is much to be done here. A week doesn’t seem like it’s going to be enough time to really accomplish what we’d like to see. But God knows what role we are to play in Richmond, and he really doesn’t need us to do what He’s going to do anyway. It’s a privilege that He included me in His work here. Oh, and by the way, Canadians really do say “eh” at the end of sentences that are questions. It’s kind of like us saying right? at the end of our sentences. The funny thing is that they don’t even know they do it! It’s that natural for them.

Anyway, there’s much more work to be done in Canada, eh?

Preaching in Canada

This is the first of posts that I’ll be updating this week as I write about the happenings of Bethel’s mission team in Richmond, Canada.

The 10 of us have arrived safely after a long Saturday of travel.  Right now, it’s 7:20am here, but 10:20 where I’m used to.  We’re in the hotel getting ready to go to IHOP for breakfast before meeting up with the rest of the team.

We were on planes from 7:00am Eastern time yesterday to 1:00pm western time, then in vans driving from Seattle across the border to Richmond, Canada from 2:00 until 7:20pm western time.  We finally arrived at our host church, Richmond Faith Fellowship at 7:20 for dinner they prepared for us.  We were tired, but after some sleep we’re ready to go.  This morning I’ll be preaching at Richmond Faith Fellowship and our team will start preparing for the ministry work ahead of us this week.

Nikki and I were able to watch some of the Olympics in our room.  We saw Phelps set a new record again!!  But now we’re hungry and ready to go, so we’re going to IHOP.

Keep checking back for more updates so you can read about what God does in Canada this week!

USS New York

My mother in law sent this to me today and I thought it was pretty cool. I didn’t know they did this.

USS New York

It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center .

It is the fifth in a new class of warship – designed for missions th at include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite , LA to cast the ship’s bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, ‘those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,’ recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. ‘It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.’

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the ‘hair on my neck stood up.’ ‘It had a big meaning to it for all of us,’ he said. ‘They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We’re going to be back.’

The ship’s motto? ‘Never Forget’

The Powerful Spirit of God!

We often hear that the Spirit of God is powerful.  But sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to see it in awesome ways.  I was privileged enough to see the Spirit of God in full power last week and I need to put this story out there for anyone who reads this blog.  If you doubt that God can do amazing things in peoples’ lives, keep reading.  If you want to be encouraged in your faith, keep reading.

Last week, June 22-27 was the annual week of Centrifuge camp for Bethel’s youth at Skycroft.  18 students and 6 adults from our group arrived Sunday evening.  The worship that night was energetic with a band leading music, great videos, and a great camp pastor who was powerfully proclaiming the Word of God all week.  But there seemed to be a strange spirit in the worship center.  There wasn’t freedom to worship, and a lot of students from all the church groups seemed lifeless and didn’t seem to enjoy a time set aside to worship our Creator.  Something was up.  And I didn’t know what it was.

Our camp pastor, Paul, mentioned to the adults the next day that he could sense a wall up between the students and God.  Monday night’s worship- same thing.  Tuesday night, seemed the same almost.

But Tuesday night, some things started coming to a head.  The worship time seemed to be a little more freeing, but the big change came in the church group devotion time.  The group time was the last thing of the night before the fun free time activities before bed.

Dave, on our group leaders, opened up the time just asking if anyone had questions about what they’ve been hearing so far in the week.  He was hoping honest discussion would get started that would lead to the root of the problem that seemed to be built up.  What ended up happening was several of our students opened up about family situations.  I realized that there was a lot of hurting and pain from relationships with parents and others.  And what I think happened was that these things were creating walls in the hearts of our students that wouldn’t allow them to freely worship God.  Reconciliation was needed between some of our students and others.

I heard things that night from students that I haven’t heard yet in my youth ministry experience. Things that I won’t print here, but things that showed there was some real hurting going on inside of the students I pastor.

By Wednesday, I felt like something had to be done.  Especially since I was leaving late that night to go to Michigan to perform a wedding, I just couldn’t stand leaving knowing the spiritual condition of our students at the time.  So that night’s group time, we did something a little different.  And what ended up happening blew my mind and made me stand in awe of the powerful spirit of God!

That afternoon I went out and got some terra cotta dishes (a type of pottery).  It ended up being the best $30 I’ve ever spent for these guys.  That night during our group time, we went down to a fire pit area that was very secluded.  I opened up to them about what I’ve been seeing happening all week.  I told them I felt like there were unresolved issues with parents, friends, or others that were getting in our way of worshipping.  As they came to the area, I handed them a terra cotta dish.  They held it the whole time I explained this.  I shared with them the scripture from Matthew 5:23-24 about being reconciled to your brother before coming to the altar of God.  I then asked them to picture that painful situation they were experiencing in their dish.  I then invited them to go to one of the blankets that were nearby and take the hammer that was there, and crush that dish.  This was a symbolic way of giving that situation over to God.  I told them it wasn’t about smashing their father or friend, but about getting rid of their hateful attitudes and bringing themselves to a point where they could ask forgiveness or forgive.

God’s hand was working the whole day to prepare Bethel’s youth for that evening. Paul preached that night on forgiveness, and all of their Bible studies throughout the day focused on the topic of forgiveness.  Paul’s message was powerful, but what I saw from God’s Spirit was even more powerful!

I played a guitar softly in the background to just give students time to pray and give these situation over to God.  Then I was able to experience students going up to the blankets and completely destroying these dishes.  I mean obliterating them!!  And many students wept over the broken pieces of pottery that laid before them.  I saw freedom coming out from such a simple tangible thing of breaking up a piece of pottery with a hammer.  But what I saw next blew my mind.  Students were getting up from those blankets changed in their spirits.  They were going back to the others and praying over them!  Putting their hands on them and praying for them!  Even students who didn’t know each other too well were praying for each other.  I’m picking strings on a guitar while watching all this.  It seemed like as students were crushing pieces of pottery, God was crushing their hearts and restoring them with a new freedom and attitude of joy to be with others and to be in His presence!

I stopped playing the guitar and asked if anyone wanted to share anything.  And between tears, some students shared the situations they gave over to God.  It was powerful.  Then, they asked to sing some more!  So we did.  By the end of the night, the entire group was sitting in a circle singing praises to our God and praying together.  The spirit of joy in that place was indescribable.  Walls had been shattered and the spirit of God moved freely in that place.  In their prayers, even the students termed that evening a “revival.”

I can’t completely describe what happened.  It was one of those things that you just have to experience.  But so often we harbor bitterness or let other things control our lives instead of giving them over to God.  Then we’ve forfeited the freedom that comes through Christ.

After that experience, I felt much better about going to Michigan.

I love the people I am privileged to minister to.  There’s a great group of students at Bethel who have experienced God’s Spirit in an amazing way.  I hope they never forget it.  And there’s probably a lot of people still out there who need to experience God like this.  Pray for it.  Seek it.  Find it.