A Chance Encounter? Never!

November 28, 2009

Wow! I have just had an amazing, crazy morning like never before. God certainly is not a God of coincidence, but plans and purposes everything that takes place in our lives. He is strategically placing us where He wants us in order to bring Him honor and glory. So let me share with you my story, which is really just a small part of His story. May Jesus receive all of the praise and glory for He alone deserves it.

I woke up this morning and decided to spend my day off playing my guitar at the park in downtown Seattle, and then maybe go get coffee at the library or something like that; but God had something else in mind for me today. I made it to the park, got out my guitar, and started playing a little. Well, a guy with a guitar of his own came up to me and asked me what kind of guitar I had, which struck up a conversation about what kind of music I played. I showed him some of the songs I was playing---some of Mark’s music that I had printed at the library a couple days ago---and we started talking about Jesus and God’s Word.

He told me he had just got off the phone with His mom who was trying to get Him to become a Christian and how he just was not buying into it. So we started talking about Jesus. I shared with him that God’s Word is truth and that Jesus was the only one who could fill the empty void in his life. He started telling me his story. He had gotten into drugs and was battling addiction, he just got out of jail not too long ago, he was trying to get clean, but had just had a drug relapse and nearly died from an overdose the night before. So here I was sitting with this guy wondering what in the world am I doing---this sure is not the safest way to spend my Saturday; but God had placed me here on this bench with this lost, hurting young man who needed Jesus in his life. And so I sat there with Him, praying and pleading with God to work in his heart. This was definitely a God thing!

At first, he argued with what I was saying, but as our conversation continued on things seemed to start sinking into his heart. At one point, I just looked at Him and told Him point blank: “You need Jesus. He’s the only One who will fill the emptiness in your life.” And he agreed. The drugs only left Him emptier after each high. I prayed with Him and committed him to Christ. I gave him my little New Testament to read and told him I’d be praying for him---He wanted me to tell my family so that they’d be praying for Him as well. We were about to part ways when he asked if I’d go with him to his drugs anonymous meeting, which was just up the street a ways. For a second I was thinking, “Man what would my family and friends say if they saw me now---throwing caution to the wind.” But I also thought of Jesus, coming to earth and going to the sinners---identifying with the lost. So I prayed in my heart asking God for wisdom, discernment, and courage to be Christ to this young man. On the way, he called his mom and started telling her all about it. Then he handed me the phone and told me she wanted to talk to me.

She told me that she had prayed me up this morning, and had asked God to send someone into her son’s life who would point Him to Christ. She said it sure was not a coincidence and that she thanked God for me. I was just amazed at what God was doing---completely shocked and excited about the work I was seeing Him do right in front of me.

I went to the meeting with Daniel and listened as they had their sharing time---many drug addicts shared about their struggles. Near the close, Daniel raised his hand and started sharing about how he needed help. He told them about his relapse into drugs and asked for help. Then He started talking about the coincidences of the morning, which weren’t really coincidences in his mind anymore. How his mom had talked to him about Jesus and then someone in the park. I was just exploding inside at the next thing he said. He continued on saying that now he believed in Jesus. How awesome! Praise God!

I do believe Daniel’s confession was genuine, but I know he has a rough road ahead of Him. Please pray for him as He presses on, and pray for me to know how to help him. He wants to come to church with me sometime so I hope to get him linked up with one of the men at my church. I am just blown away by what has happened today---God is truly awesome in how He brings us to Himself.

Trials

November 27, 2009

God does not send trials and suffering into our lives for no reason; everything has a purpose. He sends both rain and sunshine upon the earth to accomplish their assigned purposes, and He also sends both hardship and happiness into our lives to bring about His sovereign plan. It is not always for us to know why God does what He does, but we should joyfully submit to His will and persevere through trials, counting it all joy. Yet This is very difficult to do; but as I look back over my life, I also realize that it is from the depth of my soul’s agony that the beauty of Christ-like character blossoms. God’s refining fire purifies my heart and purges deep within my soul, causing intense pain as He holds me in the flames. I cry out and long for relief, but God’s love for me is so great that He does not cease from His perfect work.

I Give Thanks to You!

November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving Day Prayer

Precious Savior, I give thanks to You for Your abundant love. You endured the pain and agony of Calvary so that I might be free. You experienced the greatest pain and loneliness---You bore God’s wrath---so that I could draw near to You. You have given me life---abundant life!

I give thanks to You for Your constant care and strength that You supply me with when I am weak, for Your endless mercies, and Your awesome friendship. You are my greatest treasure and my joy throughout the day. Every moment is better because You are with me ever leading me heavenward.

I give thanks to You for friends and family who support me in prayer and who have invested so much in my life. I thank You for the parents You gave me to raise me in Your ways and teach me to follow hard after You. I thank You for siblings who encourage me on after You and remind me to keep my gaze fixed on the cross. I thank You for dear friends who constantly urge me on in my race.

I give thanks to You Almighty God for the struggles and trials You send into my life. I thank You for the challenges and difficulties. I thank You for the Midgett and the challenges I face here. Your hand is in this and You are the one guiding me. I trust in You and look to You. I thank You for the loneliness, for the homesickness, I thank You for the hurting, and the pain. Oh, Savior, I praise You for the joys and sorrows, for the pleasure and pain, for the trials and triumphs, and for the delights and difficulties. You are awesome and I will trust in You. Blessed be Your name! I will give thanks to You---for You are good; Your love endures forever!

Pressing On

November 25, 2009

God has truly blessed me with another wonderful day. I got to go downtown and play my guitar and enjoy some coffee. Yet amidst these blessings my heart still struggles with great homesickness at times. My soul is tossed and thrown about by the seas of this life and terror and fear clench my heart, but Christ is always present---always holding me through each struggle and through each pain. The blessings God bestow are not always beautiful in themselves; but by and by in His good time, He will show us His beauty through them.

I am challenged right now to constantly fix my gaze upon the beauty of the Lord as I am hurting and feeling weighed down by struggles. He is my treasure and in Him I have salvation---I have hope! He is a rock and a refuge to those who call upon His name. These little sufferings I am experiencing now are of no comparison of the joy and happiness I’ll have someday in glory when I see my Savior face to face. Until then I must run this race God has placed me on with all I’ve got in Christ’s strength and for His glory.

My heart may hurt now, but one day I’ll be home. Time may seem long now, but really it will only feel like a blink and I’ll be in the presence of the Lord. He has placed me upon this earth for a reason and so I will press on. He upholds me and sustains me with His grace.

Thanksgiving

November 22, 2009

I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving Day is right around the corner. I have so much to rejoice and give thanks to God for…I am blessed beyond measure. True I will not be with friends and family per se this Thanksgiving and I’ll also be on duty, but as I was thinking about this earlier I realized that I will not be alone. My dear heavenly Father is always with me and my best friend ever---Jesus Christ---is always with me. He has blessed me abundantly this year, and I will rejoice in Him.

I give thanks to You, O God! You are awesome and beautiful; You are my greatest treasure and pleasure in life. I thank You that You have placed me on the Midgett, that You are taking me through difficult days, and that You are faithfully making me more and more like Your Son. I thank You for the joys and sorrows, for the sun and the rain, and for carrying me through it all. I thank you for the joy You put into my heart. Your love is better than life! I thank You for all the blessings You pour out upon me, but most of all I thank You for Jesus Christ---for the salvation I have in Him. I stand in grace with the hope of eternal life before me. Blessed be Your name!

All in All

November 22, 2009

Perhaps one of the hardest, but sweetest lessons God is teaching me right now is that He is all I need. As He had been removing all the crutches I have leaned on for support over the years, He is teaching my heart to echo what Paul wrote to the Philippians: “I count everything loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord….” Apart from Christ life is empty---everything is empty apart from Christ---but my wayward heart clings to its crutches. Praise God that He is faithful to make me like His Son---that He stripes me of comfort and my earthly all so that I find my all in Him alone.

The joy of the Lord strengthens me and His presence causes me to persevere through all circumstances. I am loved by the Creator of the universe, the Almighty God, the Savior of sinners---and in His hands I will find rest.

The Cross Before Me

November 20, 2009

The weekend has arrived! I am still on duty until tomorrow morning, but I am looking forward to a little break from work so I can get some of my own work done on my qualifications. Today I mostly stood watch and made security rounds. I am planning to venture out into Seattle tomorrow for a while and then do some hardcore drawing---I have to complete a set of drawings (diagrams) of the different pipe systems running through the ship. It boggles my brain and that is for sure!

God is continually teaching me and reteaching me such timeless lessons here on the Midgett---lessons like working hard, trusting in Him, rejoicing in sadness, clinging to Him, and the list goes on. I serve a faithful God who is faithful in keeping His word of transforming me into the likeness of His Son. He chips, chisels, hammers, and sands me to make me who He wants me to be---a painful process, but a beautiful product will be the end result. I want to be like Jesus and I want my life to be a fragrant offering to my Lord. His grace sustains me and upholds me as I press onward with the cross always before me.