Full Circle

I love it when things come full circle.  7 months ago, almost to the day, I sat in a coffee shop and interviewed for a job at a local construction company.  I didn't know exactly what I would be getting myself into, but I did know that I wouldn't be ready to leave for Honduras for quite a few months, and since most companies didn't exactly value my plans for Honduras, this was my best option on the table.  I quickly learned that not only did this company value my plans to go to Honduras, but they actively sent out thier employees on short-term mission trips.  They were more than accomodating with my support raising and were geniunely interested in hearing about the progress of my journey to Honduras.

Now, flash forward 7 months to toinght.  I sit in the middle of a room as employees from this company lay hands on me and pray over me as I prepare to leave for Honuras.  I can't explaing why, but it was one of the coolest experiences of my life knowing that my employer for the better part of the last year was lifting me up to Almighty God in prayer.

The employment I have found at Grace Klein Construction over the last seven months is just a small part of the puzzle that God has divinely assembled in his plan to get me to Honduras while bringing the most glory to himself as possible.

I have more Honduras news that I will release very soon.  Thank you for your prayers and for your partnership with in the gospel.

Feliz Navidad!

Honduras Update 1: Support Raising

I am currently undertaking the most substantial task that I have ever attempted to undertake. In order to understand that and the rest of this blog, you must first know two things, both of which you may already be aware of:

1.  I am moving to Honduras for one year to share the gospel and make disciples through the use of construction.

2.  I am raising 100% of my support before I leave for Honduras.

Had you asked me four months ago, I would have told you that I was out-of-my-mind excited about #1 and that #2 was only a necessary evil that had to be accomplished before I could get on with #1.

If you were to ask me now, I would tell you that I am even more than out-of-my-mind excited about #1.  My thoughts on #2 however have changed.  God has humbled me in my outlook.  He has show me that He is in control and that I control nothing.  I want to share with you some of the attitudes that I have been broken of and some of the things God is teaching me during this process.  I don't want you to know these things so that you can see how I have matured in my approach to support raising.  I want you to know about these things so that you will see how great God is, and how small I am.  I also want to show you how expansive an impact we could have on the Kingdom if we would just believe these two truths, truths that God is making painfully evident in my life right now.


1. God is big.  I have tried to convince myself of many different reasons as to why it makes sense to raise support: 1. It's biblical.  Paul raised support.  Even Jesus' ministry was supported financially by a third party.  2.  It'll make me trust God.  It'll making me rely on his faithfulness.  3.  I get to involve others in the Great Commission.  By partnering with supporters, I allow them to share a part of my ministry.  All three of these reasons are justified, but I'm not convinced that they're the main reason why God would have me raise my own support.  I believe the reason is this:

If I didn't raise my support, it'd be too easy.  If I didn't raise my support, there would be no development, no struggle.  These points culminate into one ultimate: if I didn't raise my support, God wouldn't receive the glory due him.  If God wants to receive the glory due him in this process, then why not do it through the most unlikely of circumstances?  If I had an extra $30,000 laying around and was able to just hop on a plane for Honduras, where is God in that?  If I had a check handed to me each month to cover my expenses, nobody would see that and say "Wow, look at what God has done!"  If I've learned anything, it's that God's ways are higher.  While my means are motivated by selfish ends (to get to Honduras quicker, to not have to "worry" about support, to not look incapable), God's means are motivated by a very specific end: the advancement of his glory.

I'll explain it further this way:  if you take a look at just a few of the "Bible heroes", as we like to call them, God brings glory to himself in a similar way.  He never chooses the most popular, or the most polished, or the most well respected to accomplish his will.  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  He used a murderer and adulterer in David to bring about the lineage of Christ.  He chose a liar and a coward in Peter to build his church on.  He entrusted 12 common men, men with zero societal clout, with the task of spreading Christianity to the rest of the world.  God has a habit of accomplishing his purpose through the most unlikely people in the most unlikely circumstances so that he gets more glory out of it.  When someone looks at David, a murderer and adulterer, and sees the lineage directly to the savior of the world, they can't explain it apart from God.  So when someone looks at me,  a poor college graduate who lives in a camper, and sees what I have accomplished to get to Honduras, they too can't explain it apart from God.

2. Pray hard.  A second reason why I am thankful for raising support is because it has taught me to pray. It has taught me to pray hard.  It has taught me to physically hit my knees, grab hold of the horns of the altar, and pray hard until I have assurance that God has heard me, and even then, not to stop, but to continue to petition the only One who is able to provide.  If I wasn't up against such an unattainable task, I wouldn't be forced to rely on God for my every need.  I wouldn't be forced to daily petition God to raise up faithful partners with whom I can work to advance His kingdom in Honduras.  So, even if it appears that all my efforts in support raising are being done in vain, I can say this at the very least: it has taught me to pray.

I do not, however, think that my efforts are in vain.  I do, in fact, believe that God hears my prayers.  And I do, for sure, believe that God is receiving glory.  I confidently say these things because God has already begun to prove his faithfulness as I am well over halfway to my goal of being 100% funded.  My goal for departure for Honduras has been January.  I still cannot say if I will make my goal, but I am often reminded that it is just that, my goal.  My goal means nothing.  All that matters is that my support is raised according to God's plan.   It is not easy to relinquish control in this matter, but that is when God is glorified.

If you would like to know more about my support raising, its progress, or how you could get involved, please do not hesitate to contact me about it (trussell@caminoglobal.org).  I find joy and excitement in being able to involve more people in what God is doing here.

I can't wait to write again on the progress God is making in this journey.  I would ask you to pray alongside me that God would continue to raise up faithful partners for the spread of His gospel and the advancement of His kingdom.

In Christ...

We Don't Belong Here Forever

Caleb was a friend of mine; he died Sunday night.  We played Ultimate Frisbee together at Auburn; he was good.  We went to church together in Auburn.  We ate at Cracker Barrel together twice; we both ordered chicken fried chicken both times.  He beat me at the peg game that sits on the tables at Cracker Barrel; he was good at that too.  I can't say that I knew Caleb extremely well, but I can say that he was an excellent teammate, a hard worker and a sincere lover of Jesus Christ.

I heard a song today that put Caleb's death in perspective for me.  Simply titled Heaven, Paul Wright says "we don't belong here forever. No, no, we don't belong here.  We'll be dancing, singing, bringing our praises and lifting our voices to Jesus.  They'll be no more crying, lying, or dying when you and I are in heaven."  I have to believe that God has placed each person on this earth for a very specific purpose.  People aren't "called home" too early.  People's lives don't get "cut short" as many of us sympathetically claim in times of unexpected tragedy.  God knows what he is doing; He calls us to be with him at exactly the right moment.  What a glorious moment that must be--the moment when crying, lying and dying cease and our eternity becomes dancing, singing, and bringing praises to the creator of the universe!

Eternity becomes heavy on my mind in times like this.  The thought of the afterlife being eternal  becomes, if only for a split second, tangible.  That is when my heart breaks.  So many will not experience dancing, and singing, and bringing praises to Jesus because they never knew him.  Fortunately, Caleb will experience that; in fact, he is right now, and I'm sure there's no place he'd rather be.

If you do not know Jesus Christ, I beg you to meet Him.  I don't want you to claim Him solely so that you will be in heaven for eternity.  Yes, that's part of it, but I want you to meet Christ because I can assure you that nothing else can hold a candle to the satisfaction found in Him.  Nothing else in all of creation that you could possibly lend your attention to will be able to satisfy you like Christ.  In Christ is where the only eternal satisfaction is found. Eternal peace.  Eternal paradise. If you could, just ask Caleb.

I will go to Caleb's funeral on Thursday.  He will be buried.  The sun will set.  Then it will rise again.  Life will come calling the day after Caleb is buried, and as long as there is life, there is hope.  As long as the sun rises again, there is hope that you too will be able to join Caleb as he dances, sings, and brings praises to Jesus.

So please, look to Jesus.  You don't have to look far, He's not hiding.  He's calling and waiting.

Please.

Let Everything That Has Breath...

A lot has happened since I last wrote a post.  I finished my thesis, I graduated college, I moved to Birmingham, I started a new job, my sister got married, I went through training/orientation for Honduras, I have began support raising/partnership building for Honduras, and I moved again.  Life has finally slowed down enough for me to write; unfortunately, however, there are so many things I'd like to write about that have happened in the last 10 weeks, I have quite a bit of catching up to do.  God has taught me so much and begun to open my eyes to so many new things about Himself, that I really don't know where to begin.  Eventually, I'll get around to talking about Honduras and preparation and partnership formation and the like, but for now, I want to share three chapters of Psalm that God has revealed to me that have dominated my thoughts for the last month.

Prior to about 6 weeks ago, I had never read the last three chapters of Psalm (148, 149, 150).  I had heard the phrase "let everything that has breath praise the Lord," but I had never bothered to look up its source.  I'm so grateful to have found these chapters, because they have literally reformed the way I think about the purpose of life.  To sum it up, the psalmist commands everything on earth, all creatures, all humans, all plants, all creation, to praise the Lord.  The concept is simple, and its exhaustive.  It starts out by commanding all of creation to praise the Lord.  All his angles, all his heavenly hosts, the sun and the moon, all shining stars, the highest heavens and the waters above the skies are all commanded to praise the Lord.  Then all of earth is commanded to praise the Lord.  Great sea creatures, all ocean depths, the weather, mountains and hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and cattle, small creatures and birds, kings and princes and rulers, young men and maidens, old men and children are all commanded to praise the name of the Lord because His name alone is exalted.  Then the people of earth are told to praise the Lord.  With dancing and instruments and joy they are to rejoice in their maker and praise Him for His greatness.  The last 11 words of Psalm sum it all up: "let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord."

If these chapters don't already make it clear enough, the destiny of every creature on earth is to praise the Lord.  This is the heartbeat of God--for every creature to praise His name.  Every human being WILL praise the Lord in one of two situations: as we enter the gates of heaven where we will sing "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty" for eternity, or as we descend into the depths of hell where we will suffer for eternity.  These two options make clear the distinction of God's grace versus his wrath.  It shows the haunting reality of God's unquenchable wrath for those who deny him, and the unwavering hope received from God's unending grace for those who embrace Him.

These chapters have so greatly reinforced in my life the ultimate reason why we exist-- to praise the Lord.  It seems to me that the God of the universe is powerful enough to make this happen.  It gives me hope to know that His name will one day be thoroughly praised by all.  This hope is no reason to back off on sharing this good news, but is all the reason more to spread it so that God's glory is more famous today than it was yesterday.

"May the praise of God be in their mouths...let everything that has breath praise the Lord.  Praise the Lord."

If I Only Knew...

There is a verse I stumbled across a while back in Hosea that has really changed some things about my view of God:

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6

Earlier in chapter 6 of Hosea, the Israelites are saying that they want to return to the Lord.  I suppose their attitude may seem authentic, but I think it's just a show.  They are certain, almost arrogant, of the fact that God will take them back as long as they acknowledge God and "as surely as the sun rises, he will appear."  Apparently, God didn't buy into their pitch because he isn't satisfied with their attitude in approaching him.  In verse 6, God is telling them that He wants the Israelites to do more than just know about him, he desires that they know him.  Simply put, information about God isn't enough.  They need to experience revelation of God in their lives so that they understand his heart.  

I need to experience revelation of God.  

We need to experience revelation of God.

This means that God wants more than "I'm sorry" from me.  He wants more than for me to feel guilty and make an unfulfilled promise.  He wants more than an act or a show.  He wants what is real.  He wants me to experience  what God is about.  He wants me to "taste and see that the Lord is good," as Psalm 34:8 says.  

To taste and see that the Lord is good, I must draw near to the heart of God.  Taste and See are not distant, abstract, and objective verbs.  To taste something is to intentionally consume it so that my senses can explode with excitement at its sweetness and complexity and texture.  To see is more than to simply observe, but it involves perception and understanding and contemplation and processing and analysis to draw a conclusion.  These verbs are personal.  They're part of an intimate sensory experience.  If I am to do these things to know my Lord, then it will take a lot more than simply claiming to lead a spiritual life.  It will take a lot more than listening to a message on Sunday morning.  Anything short of an intimate, personal relationship with God will only result in knowing information about God.  It isn't until I learn to taste and see what God is about, what his heart desires, that I will experience the revelation of God.  

Romeo knew something about revelations.  In act I Scene V of Romeo and Juliet Romeo has his own revelation.  As you may know, the play starts off in Act I Scene I with Romeo complaining to his cousin that the woman he loves, Rosaline, does not love him back.  Bonvolio tries to console Romeo by convincing him to simply forget about her and go on with his life, but Romeo will have nothing of it because to him, she is the most beautiful woman of all.  Skip ahead to Scene V at the Capulet's party.  Romeo sees a girl from across the room and his entire world changes, literally.  Her beauty surpasses anything he has ever seen.  She puts other women to shame.  Everything he thought he knew about beauty in women is thrown out the window and there is now a new standard of beautiful.  He says (in modern English):

"Who is the girl on the arm of that lucky knight over there? Oh, she shows the torches how to burn bright!  She stands out against eh darkness like a jeweled earring hanging against the cheek of and African.  Her beauty is too good for this world; she's too beautiful to die and be buried.  She outshines other women like a white dove in the middle of a flock of crows.  When this dance is over, I'll see where she stands, and I'll touch her hand with my rough ugly one. Did my heart ever love anyone before this moment?  My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight."

Upon seeing Juliet, true beauty is revealed to Romeo.  Everything he thought he knew about women changes in an instant.  His previous "love," Rosaline, is no longer even a thought in his mind.  

I hope the connection between Romeo's revelation and experiencing a revelation of God makes sense.  Romeo experiences true revelation upon seeing the surpassing beauty of Juliet.  I experience true revelation upon tasting and seeing and understanding the true beauty of God.  

This idea of having a revelation of God reminds me of what Christ prayed over Jerusalem before his triumphal entry.  Luke describes the scene in verse 42 of chapter 19 as Jesus prays "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes."  

If you only knew what would bring you peace.  If you only could see what is best for you.  

I can picture Jesus telling me this.  "Trey, if you could only see what would truly bring you peace, you would want nothing but to worship God.  If you could only look past whatever it is your concentrated on in the short term, you could see that the true beauty of God is where you need to be.  The stuff you're into now may seem important, but if you could only experience the revelation of God in your life, if you could taste and see that the I am good, then it would blow your mind.  The stuff you see now is rags compared to what is going to be revealed to you." 

If we only knew.  Information about God is not enough.  "You do believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that--and shudder." (James 2:19)  I need to know him.  To taste and see that he is good.  If I only knew that there is a righteousness waiting for me that is beyond comprehension, like Romeo seeing Juliet for the first time, everything that I knew beforehand would pail in comparison.  If I could only see the big picture of my insignificance operating in God's grand story.  The only way is to "taste and see that  the Lord is good."

Whatever You Do

On November 6, 2009 I wrote this in a journal:

"At 1:30 PM I gave my life to God for full time ministry/missions.  I have no other choice.  I believe with every ounce of my being that this is God's plan for my life and there's no use trying to run from it.  By telling God to have his way with my life, I terrify myself because I can't begin to fathom the implications of that statement."

I wrote that two and a half years ago with no clue what it meant.  All I knew was that God wanted me to go a different path than what was expected of me by society, my family and my peers.  I've spent the last two and half years trying to discern how that statement was to manifest itself in my life and in my actions and in my decisions.  I have tried not to worry too much about specifics.  Instead of demanding I hear from God about exactly what I was to do and where I was to do it and with what organization and with what funds, I just wanted to find something I could do that would satisfy that statement: "have your way with my life."  

For the most part, the unknown does not bother me.  I've learned to trust God in his power and sovereignty, I've had to or else I would have driven myself crazy trying to grab for answers.  However, it is not uncommon for my impatience to come creeping its way back into my thoughts.  Sometimes, I don't want to go a different route because I'd rather be secure in knowing what I'm doing after I graduate and where I am going to live and when I'm going to get married and whatever else apprehensions my mind has the imagination to conceive.  

Often, this uneasiness is brought upon by my academic career.  I have completely enjoyed studying in the Building Science department at Auburn and they do a great job of trying to ensure job placement for their graduates.  Sometimes, they do too good of a job because I begin to doubt what I know is true about what God wants me to do.  When I hear classmates talking about job placement and salaries and their seemingly concrete future, the longing for security starts to creep into my mind, trying commandeer my future.  But I can't let this happen.  No matter how much Satan tries to convince me that a life in vocational construction would be better, I have to remember that I am to "go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations."  

I can't believe that the only thing that God has called me to is vocational international missions.  We are to worship God in everything we do, whether it's accounting or construction or flipping burgers or vocational international missions, God should be represented all the same.  It's not so much about what I do as it is about the Name that I carry with me.  The thing that I decide to do with my life, the way I choose to spend my time is of no concern to God, as long as I am glorifying His name as I do it. With that said, I do believe that I can work in domestic construction and still satisfy God's will for my life because it's the same will that He has for everyone's life: glorify the I Am.  

Even though I know I can glorify God in whatever I do, I can't help but entertain the passions that God has placed on my heart.  I love constructing and building, and I have a heart for people and to see them come to know the God that I love, so why not combine the two?  For me, it doesn't make sense to "waste" (for lack of a better word) the passions that God has granted me by doing anything short of making a fool out of myself for His sake (1 Cor. 4:10).  It doesn't make sense to spend my time on anything short of Isaiah 58.  

So I will find a way to spend my time for the next several months before I go to Siguatepeque, Honduras for one year.  Whether I do it in construction or service or whatever until then, I have to carry His name.  And then in Honduras, I have to carry His name.  Then I will come back from Honduras into a world of uncertainty in which I will still have to carry His name.   There's no telling what the Lord will have in store for me upon my return, but whatever it may be, I have to carry His name.  

"Whatever you do, work at is with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving." 

Colossians 3:24-24

   

Not For Sale

After roughly 230 hours of work, I am only a couple of weeks away from completing my senior thesis.  The past 8 weeks have been intense, but it will be worth it here shortly when I walk down the hall with a complete 300 page binder and hand it off to the faculty.  This means that it's almost over, college that is.

I have already made plans to go to Honduras this fall for one year.  I made a promise to God two and a half years ago that I would give  a period of time immediately after graduation to go and share the gospel overseas.  If you're doing the math, there's a gap from May to Fall-ish where my schedule will suddenly free up drastically.  I am currently applying/searching for jobs or internships to hold me over until I leave for Honduras, but  God may have other plans for that.

Anyway, as graduation approaches, I have been attending quite a few industry presentations given by hiring companies.  It's a strange dynamic, really.  At the presentation, a company will pull out all the stops to try and pitch their company to a room full of hopeful students.  They send their best presenters, their flashiest powerpoints, and the company credit card.  That time of presentation is like listening to a used car salesman.  "This company is different because..." or "Something you find with this company that you won't find anywhere else is..." or "This is the best company I've ever worked for..."  They try their hardest to convince us that their company is worth working for.  Flash forward to interview time and suddenly, the tables have turned...literally.  Two men sit on one side of a rectangular table as I sit on the other side facing them.  Now, it's my turn to sell.  I wear a suit, a tie, shiny shoes. I try to sell my resume, my accomplishments, and my worthiness to men who, just the night before, were trying to sell me on the very thing I'm competing for.

As I sat through one of these presentations last week and began to make the connections of this odd situation, my mind decided to park itself on the gospel.  I realized that the gospel, specifically how it should be presented, has absolutely no connection to these presentations or interviews.  The gospel does not need to be sold.  It does not need to be advertised on a brochure.  It cannot be made to look any more appealing that it already is.  No pamphlet will make it seem sexier.  No powerpoint will do it justice.

The gospel does not need to be sold. It can only be accepted as is.

God has given me the opportunity a couple of times over the last few weeks to share the gospel with a friend whose salvation I have been praying for for almost two years.  It is so tempting to make the gospel sound appealing.  To try to sell the gospel so that he'll accept it.  To make it sound so sweet, that he would have to be a fool to reject it.  But the fact of the matter is, the gospel is not appealing...its offensive.  The gospel is, and should be, offensive to those whose hearts have not been gripped by God.  Offensive maybe, but essential still.  Not a word in Matthew 10 hints at the gospel demanding anything less than everything.  Yet it's still so tempting to try to sell "Admit, believe, confess and you're good."  (Side note: I hate "Admit, Believe, and Confess".  I think it should be more appropriately titled "Believe and Die".  I think that sums it up much better.  Believe that Christ paid the ultimate bounty for your salvation, and therefore Die to all the world so that you can make Christ and his fame known.  Something tells me the church isn't going to adopt "Believe and Die."  That won't fill seats.)  

Anything less than the true gospel is no gospel at all, it is a man-made story designed to make ourselves feel better about our religious standing.  So, next time you present the gospel, remember that you're not trying to sell it to anybody.  That's God's job.  The gospel must be presented in its true form: We are dead, incapable of raising ourselves to life.  But God allowed his son to be murdered so that He could raise us to life.  And therefore we owe him everything.  Our own agendas become irrelevant and His purpose becomes paramount.