Boomin

Sir Francis Drake’s Prayer (1577)

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wilder seas where storms will show Your masterywhere losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.

We ask you to push bak the horizons of our hopes; and to push back the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain, Who is Jesus Christ. 

Needless to say I have been disturbed.  Africa has completely changed my life!  I know I’ll never be the same again!  Everything about being over there, working with the team over there, loving on the kids, experiencing a different culture.  Ohhhhh!! I’m so ready to go back over there!!! Probably one of the coolest parts about this trip was that God really spoke to me the whole time, and I have never experienced anything like that before in my life.  People say God isn’t real; but this trip definitely proved otherwise to me!  It was so refreshing because for the first two days I was just basically in a “Mer…” mood.  Weird right?  I mean, I was in Africa!  How much more glorious can it be!  And many of you know that for a while now I’ve been wanting to be a missionary over in Africa, but when we actually got over there I was just like “Oh.. wow!  This is real.”  And I have loved the idea of being a missionary so much, but actually being on a foreign soil and doing ministry with people from a completely different culture was quite overwhelming!  I mean, for the first time I was scared of what God was going to do on this trip.  I mean, I love serving and doing ministry, but this was different because I was completely out of my comfort zone, and I was away from all my little comforts, and away from all my friends and family, my connections.  Would God really call me away where all my little conveniences were out of reach?  And man, for the first time in a long time, I was scared like junk of what God would call me to do in my life!  Completely thrown for a loop!  And the second night of our actual doing stuff (Friday), instead of joining in a competitive game of night hide-and-go-seek (srsly, tag is better in Africa.. :]) I decided, “Man, something is up.  I know I’m not supposed to be feeling this way”, and I just got alone in my room and had some quiet time with God.  And ohmygosh.. I remember flipping through my Bible and thinking “Now, I’m on a missions trip.. what do I read??”  Then it was like Nehemiah jumped out from my table of contents and was like “Hollaaa!!!”  something like that.. :]  And as I began to read, I was blown away by what was on the pages that I was reading.  Basically the story goes something like this.. Nehemiah is confronted with a problem: the walls of Jerusalem are in ruins.  So the problem is revealed to Nehemiah, and great sorrow overcomes him.  But Nehemiah doesn’t just sit on his rear end crying about it.  He seeks God through prayer and fasting and for a way to correct the problem.  He makes God the focus of his circumstances, and not the situation.  Then he acts on an open door which God gives him.  He’s bold in a difficult situation.  Takes the bull by the horns.  Then when he gets to Jerusalem, he doesn’t even think about procrastination.  He starts inspecting and sizing up his giant.  And he goes stealth mode so that when opposition comes, he’ll already be one step ahead of the game.  Then it talks in the 3rd chapter about the the building of the wall.  It says that each person basically builds the section of the wall that’s in front of their house.  And some people build that and some more.  So I felt God to speak to me in that.  You see before I left for Africa, I was just confused about what I’m going to do with my future, and there so many different things to choose from as far as a career is concerned, and I was all like “yeah, what about being a therapist, a music major at LSU, does God want me to go into full-time ministry, should I be a lumberjack?”  And I just couldn’t decide, for I had no peace on one set thing, and I was struggling because I would love to do ministry, but I want to make sure that it’s God and not just me.  But reading the third chapter in Nehemiah, I really felt God speak this to me:  No matter if ministry is full-time or not, I still have to do what’s in front of my house.  And whether I get paid to be like Jesus or not (like working for a church, or being in ministry) I still need to be Jesus to a dying and broken world.  It’s not about what exactly am I doing:  it’s about am I building God’s kingdom and serving Him no matter what the title or task?  God can use a janitor to shake nations.  Am I willing to be a janitor?  

So yah, God basically smoked me with that one.. And that was just one night.. It’s funny because I really feel God leading me to study music composition at LSU, and I had to go to the place where all I had was Jesus, and I pressed into Him until He became my everything.  A lot of times we can make finding God’s will for our lives and what His purpose for us bigger than God Himself.  And that can actually become in the sense an idol, where we’re so busy and so focused on God’s plan for us, we’ve lost the relationship to have that plan.  That’s why it’s soooo important to always keep God the center of everything we do.  Everything!  I have such a peace about the future.. I can’t really explain it, but I know this is a step that God is leading me in, and I know, without a shadow of a doubt that He has a plan and purpose for my life.  Now whether that’s serving over in Swaziland, or being a part of the local church, or being a lumber jack.. :]  I’m content.  Wherever He has me go, I’m willing.  

Lord, the answer is yes.  Now what is the question?  Help me to live my life like that with everything I have!  Help me to be Your hands and Your feet wherever I go, and to reach the lost and broken places of this world by showing them Your love!  Help me to pour my life out to the death, and to run this race, God, for those who are to come!  Amen.

JamieJ