Solitude

I've always felt the need to be DOING SOMETHING. That every second, if I'm not out--that I would be wasting my day away. One of the first biggest lessons God is teaching me on this trip is: Spending quality alone time with God. I honestly can be caught up in always wanting to be out and about, whether that be spending time with others or serving. This past week--where my supervisor is working on stuff for me to do in the office next week (this is a new experience for him having an intern) I have found myself experiencing much alone time. Honestly, this is aggravating because I love people and feel the need to always be around people. But God is slowly showing me so far that I absolutely cannot just skate through devos in the morning right quick or say some quick prayers. He is teaching me the utmost essentials of pouring my heart out to Him and letting Him just come in and explore the deepest desires, fears, and burdens on my heart. I tend to try to do it all on my own--with everything I get myself involved in (as an example: this past semester I was an RA at Oakland University, a Kairos small group leader, a midfielder for our school's lacrosse team, a volunteer basketball coach for Upward Basketball, did sport ministry at Woodside, a regular Lighthouse member, hosted my own radio show...all while trying to maintain a social life and not to mention school!)--through a lot of this--I honestly tried to get by on my own strength. It came to a point where I realized I needed to give this all to our Lord. Jim shared a message about a month ago about how we really need to give God everything in our lives for Him to lead us and this spoke to my heart especially---as this theme started to mold me in my faith.

As I am outside in this beautiful San Diego weather (although I hear Michigan is nice right now, too) , I am wrestling with the fact that solitude is of utmost importance. I am praying that God would give me the strength and discipline to not just open my Bible daily but dig into it--pray specific prayers for people and not just 'get by' with my prayer life. I am realizing that I cannot rush into this summer, count down the days to get back to my home...that I need to give this ALL to God and focus on what He has in store for me...and that He would change lives at these camps. Though my work in the office may seem pointless leading up to the camps at times--that God has a specific purpose for that task...all in helping these camps be throughoughly executed in helping further the Kingdom of God. 

A huge theme I learned last summer in Europe with FCA was to absoutely be patient and completely trusting Him. I am a huge people person and the fact that this first week of adjusting, I haven't been recieving clear instruction on what I should be doing-it has turned my focus into quiet time with God. Though this may not seem like a lot to me at first--these times have been enriching and God is preparing my heart. We just need to be still at times amidst the chaos of our lives and soak in everything--LISTEN--to what God is telling us. 

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." -Psalm 46:10 This song is a good reminder for me to literally depend on God for EVERYTHING in my life:

Please pray for strength and courage as I continue down this unkown journey...I am moving into a Christian Fraternity house at San Diego State University tomorrow. I will be staying here throughout the summer, aside from the camps I'll be serving at. I also got a trolley card, as this seems to be my primary method of transportation this summer. The dudes in the house seem pretty solid in their faith and there are a lot of house rules to keep us accountable (dry home, no girls past a certain time, etc.)--so that should be good...but as I enter into the week I still have no idea what my exact job is and a part of me wishes I'd be at camps all summer and not just the ones in July. With the free time I do have, I hope to make sincere friendships to have that fellowship while I'm out here to not feel alone. Shout out to all my Lighthouse and Kairos peeps!!! I miss you all and miss the fellowship. No matter what, I know God is always with me and most faithful. Through the hurt I've been through in my life, I know this to be true--that He will never fail me! Again, please pray for courage and strength as I enter these uncharted territories and that I would fully depend on God and the Truth, not my emotions, for true joy and fulfillment as I'm away from home. I have gotten homesick easily--but shout out to Nick, Andy, my mom and dad--and all of my friends who have encouaraged me so far to focus on what God has in store for me this summer and to not look back.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus -Philippians 3:14

Sunday is my favorite day of the week! Went to Skyline Church (left pic) in San Diego this morning and am going to check out the young adult service tonight. The message this morning was on Ephesians 5 and marriage (to be real--it was hard because of how much I long to be married and love my future wife, whoever God has planned for me! But it was a solid sermon and I made sure to be discerning in that the preacher pointed it all back to Jesus--which happened) This spot (middle) is where I've been doing my best to listen to what God has in store for me, my devo spot, as there's the journal, Jesus:Pure and Simple book, and water. Yeah, that happened (right pic). Josh's friend, Jordan, drove me around in this thing. The first thing he said to me when I got in was, "you a city boy?" and "all I got is country music". Haha--good times getting to know this guy a little and obviously he's got a crazy ride--everyone was staring us down in downtown San Diego.

Yesterday, I officialy registered for the Detroit Free Press Marathon. I will be running as much as I can here and putting 100% into this thing in the morning before my day starts to  train for this thing in October. Richard and I are excited to run this full marathon. I am so pumped to see what God can do through Woodside Runners as we raise funds for orphans in India and Thailand. I decided to do this because I don't like running at all and want to accomplish something out of my comfort zone--all with the mindset that we're running for these orphans...it's something I'm not taking lightly...and I think this discipline will be good as it can correlate directly into being disciplined in having that alone time with God and growing not only spiritually on this trip, but mentally and physically as well:

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." -1 Corinthians 6:19-20