Wanting To Quit, But Continuing To Go By His Grace

I love this blog because I can just be honest on here. We share about the fun things we do, because when we are not doing fun things 80% of the time we are literally are trying to raise support. That might be sending emails, making calls, meeting with people, sending out letters, designing prayer letters, talking through strategy, praying, writing thank you notes, etc. There is so much that goes into raising support mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. When you are not raising support and "taking a break" you are still thinking about what you need to do. It is a job where you can always be doing more even if you are working at it from 8am to 9pm. It never leaves your mind with strategy and to do lists are always floating about in your head.

In addition, I have never really been as passionate as I am right now for the vision for Salerno, Italy for anything else that I did probably since I joined Kappa Sigma in the beginning of 2006, but even then I had to be laid back in a sense because I had to be very spiritually aware and cautious. I also had a drive playing sports in high school, but never for school in general in high school or college or working in the business world. For all of you out there that are saying, "What about your wife?", I say she is above this category because she is not something I did, she is more of the teammate running along side of me not a trophy or task that I accomplished, not ever a goal or objective.

So why do I say all of this? I say it to try to make people that have never really ever had anything that they are involved with other than there family or ever raised support a glimpse at what I am doing and why it is so hard when they do not really realize it is hard at all. The passion and the amount of dedication can cause me to be a workaholic and not really at times trust God to do anything, but almost a "I've got this Jesus" mentality. You called me to this and I am not going to let you down. Also the more passionate you are about something, the harder you work at it. I have got to trust Him daily in ministry in general, support raising or not, not only when I do not know what else to do or am really frustrated but always. He is the one with the plan who already knows how exactly our support is going to come in anyway.

Proverbs 3:5-6--Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Visiting the Billy Graham Library

While we were visiting Rodney's grandfather near Charlotte, North Carolina we had the chance to visit the Billy Graham Library.  If you're ever in the area, it was pretty interest to spend two or three hours learning more about Billy Graham's ministry.  By the way, it's also free to get in, which always makes things better in my opinion.  On the property is the house that Billy grew up in, Ruth's gravesite, a cafe and a museum full of videos and exhibits.  Below are some of our pictures.  

Here are Rodney and I near the front entrance:

This is the house the Billy Graham grew up in that way taken apart, brick by brick, and moved to this property, about 8 miles from it's original location:

One of my favorite part of the museum was Bessy the Talking Cow.  She talked about Billy's life growing up on a dairy.

Okay, here's one more picture from one of the displays in the museum.  Enjoy!

 

Why minister on a college campus?

In case you've missed us, we're up in North Carolina/Georgia for a few days.  Things have been going well so far, getting some much needed R&R.  We spent most of the day with Rodney's grandfather and had the chance to visit the Billy Graham library, which was very cool.  We'll have more on that (with pictures) on the next post. 

I found this article about why college students are a strategic group of people to minister to.  It was a great reminder for me about the importance of what we are hoping to do.  Whether it's students in Salerno, Italy, or students on your local college campus, wherever that may be, college students are great to invest you life and your time into.  Enjoy!

 

Why College Students are Strategic

By Ken Cochrum with Amber Kineer

Teachable

They ask questions.  THey consume information on a rapid level and can put an idea to action with proper motivation.  New challenges tend to provoke new curiosity or heart openness concerning personal purpose, convictions and life goals.  

Starting Fresh

They are setting a new life trajectory.  The decisions made, the habits formed, and the friendships forged during the college years tend to set the course for a lifetime.

Leading

They are the educated elite that will most likely lead in every domain of society -- government, religion, military, education, even sports and entertainment.  Our future leaders will be people who went to college.

Unfettered

They are free to take incredible risks.   They are unfettered by commitments, mortgages, career ladders and kids.  They are free to go anywhere the Lord leads.

Growing

They form a large presence.  The number of college students in the world has increased from about 60 million to about 120 million in the past decade.

Seeking Identity

They desire significance.  College students want to feel part of something bigger.  THey want their life to count for something and they want a cause to live for.

Global

They are connected to a global student culture.  Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and similar online social networks enable students to be accessible to their peers -- anytime, anywhere.

Innovative

The revolution of digital information has radically changed how people learn.. The average student is online 3 and a half hours per day.  Paper books and printed Bible studies have given way to podcasts, short films, text messages and chat forums.

Integrated

They fuse with society.  Students don't congregate on the campus but spill over into coffee shops, internet bars and along the city center.  Increasingly, they don't even live on campus because there aren't enough dorm spaces.  They're out in the city.

Active

Students are constantly searching for new ways to get involved with student culture and find a niche.  They try many things and are exposed to new organizations, clubs, social groups, classes and professors every semester.  

Tasteful Reminders

We have been in Tampa now for a little over two weeks staying at Amanda's house that she grew up in in New Tampa. It has been a great setup for us as Amanda's dad has been extremely flexible with us coming and going. He even lent me a car when Amanda had to go back to Orlando for two days so I could drive around for those two days. It has also been good catching up with people we usually do not have time to see and spend time with since our whole family is in Tampa and we usually see them the most of the short time we are usually in Tampa. We have been looking at our trip of more of an exploration trip. We have gotten addresses and stuff is more clear on what next time in Tampa is going to look like which I look like a win in a lot of ways. We have inserted fun breaks in between all the people we have been meeting with. We visited the Gelateria Del Duomo which I had noticed in a brief trip to Tampa's International Plaza to pick up something for my sister-in-law, so when we returned to the International Plaza because of long story that involved maybe picking up my mom's husband Ben from the airport that never happened, we or maybe I should say I needed to stop.  I do not want to go into great detail or length explaining my great love for gelato. I think that to make a long story short I do not really like ice cream that much or sweets in general to be frank, but Italian gelato I absolutely love and cannot get enough of! Cream based gelato (chocolate, hazelnut, etc.) contains only 6% fat and fruit based gelato contains none! If you do not know what I am talking about and want some explanation and a visual check out www.gelateriadelduomo.com. It was sooooooo good! It was the most authentic gelato I have tasted in the U.S. and up in the top five that I have tasted Italy! It was kinda pricey but one of my highlights for the week. (It does not take much to make me happy). It was kinda bittersweet in a way because it made me really want to be in Italy and upset that we were not there. On the other hand I wanted to be in Italy not to eat gelato, but to do the ministry God has called us to do. The gelato tastefully reminded me of what God is doing in our own lives and to not give up.  We are now about to leave for Orlando today and stay until next Friday where we leave to go on our 10 day North Carolina/South Carolina/Georgia excursion.