And So It Began!

I have arrived. I have made friends. I have yet to eat a meal by myself. I almost ate breakfast by myself yesterday, mostly because I was being a crazy person and slept in till 7:00 am Iowa time! However that is only 5:00 am Vegas time. I was up for 2 hours going out of my mind wondering where everybody was! I was able to go outside for my devotions! The doors do have alarms, but I know the passcode. I am looked in this building; I have yet to know if they are keeping the city out, or protecting the city from me. I will even be able to shower every day if I so desire, in fact I could shower every morning and evening.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3,4, it says God will comfort His children in all of their troubles. God's comfort has been very strange this time. Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains like in Alaska and the base itself is a compound which reminds me of Mercedes Christian Church in Texas. I was very upset when God really led me to the Las Vegas base. I did not want to be in the city where there was nothing I loved. But God has comforted me with the desires of my heartWe were driving to Wal-Mart Sunday evening and as we were going down this four-lane highway the mountains were right in front of us. I was stunned and immediately thought, "This looks just like the drive into Palmer, Alaska!" I love Mercedes, it was the first missions trips I ever went on and it was a place where seeking out a way to exercise my leadership ability was encouraged despite my age. God provides in mysterious ways. So often I become so focused on the tasks at hand, I forget to look around me to see God's provisions.

I was even able to go hiking yesterday. No, it was by no means a mountain, but I was able to view the city in a new way. Currently I live in the ghetto.  Am I safe? Yes. Would I be safe if I went into the alley behind our building by myself at night? Absolutely not! There are homeless people around our building and what I would assume to be prostitutes. This view shows how desolate Vegas truly is. They are thirsty and desperately in need of the living water to cover their city.

We enjoyed a lovely picnic last dinner followed by some volleyball. We then went to a staff members house to watch a video of Loren Cunningham speaking, the founder of YWAM. I began this blog by saying how good everything is because I am pretty much getting my way. Loren, however, began his lecture by saying we are to relinquish our rights, starting with the basic right of freedom. To be willing to give everything up so the Lord can work in me, is not something I fully understand. It is to relinquish our rights to voice our opinion, to become anger, to become frustrated, our right of sleep, human touch, sight, our right to hear. Following God is not simply giving up our material possessions and comforts and going, it is giving up everything we contain, our characteristics, passions and dreams.

Maybe I no longer know what it is to live a life in surrender to God. I pray, and ask for prayer as well, that I will know what it is to be on my knees again, surrendering all that I am to the Lord. I ask for prayer that I will pray dangerously and mean every syllable I speak. To no longer live gripping my rights and to no longer pray wimpy prayers for God's will to be done, but praying boldly with complete confidence that God will do miracles believed to only be found in the Bible.

As the Sunday school song says, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." I can not shine my light by simply going through the mundane tasks of life as my secular peer goes through their day. To shine my light is to be intentional, bold, and living a life lead by prayer, not led by me. I ask for prayer that I will relinquish my right to come before the Lord asking for His stamp of approval on my plans. I ask for prayer that I will instead, go before the Lord saying, "Here am I! Send me!"

"But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in Your unfailing love." Psalm 31:14-16