Not your own

I have started noticing a disturbing trend with our youth here in S.E. Arkansas. I believe that it is one of, if not the main thing that is destroying the lives of our youth. Premarital sex. I am not just talking about students that have dated each other for most of their high school lives and then on their prom night they decide, in a momentary lapse of judgement, to “do it”. I believe it is going far beyond this.

I had dinner with a student/friend not too long ago and we talked about this subject. He confessed to me a long standing, sexual relationship that he was having with his on again, off again girlfriend. It was a real life “Friends with Benefits”, and he was playing the co-leading role. He felt as though that he was being lied to by society. He had a void in his life that he was trying to fill with sex and it wasn’t doing the trick. He knows there is more to life. The world is telling our students that if they are not involved sexually with their partner then they are not normal. I have also talked with students that have had multiple sexual partners with most of them not being their boyfriend/girlfriend. Pornography has also became an epidemic that we seem to just overlook. What is going on? Why does a student in todays society feel like this is acceptable?

I hate to say this but this isn’t something that has just begun. It has been going on for much longer than you and I have been on this earth. Sexual immorality has been prevelant for centuries.

I have been reading a lot through the apostle Paul’s letters over the past few months and we see him dealing with this same issue in the church. Paul is talking to the church at Corinth when he writes these words in 1 Corinthians,

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ESV.

The Message puts it this way,

Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

I don’t expect television to all of a sudden stop showing filth. I also don’t expect the internet to filter pornography from the public. There are however some useful tools that can assist in keeping your kids from looking at bad things on the computer. You can install the X3 Watch accountability software that you can link with your and a partners email that will alert you each time your student gets on one of these pages.

Talk with your students about the problems that pornography, as well as premarital sexual relationships can cause for their lives. It goes far beyond the risk of pregnancy. It can destroy our souls. It will leave us more empty and lonely than we can imagine. Are bodies are sacred. They are a temple. They are property of our Heavenly Father. They are not our own.

You are not your own.

Everywhere but nowhere

visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or website vertaling duits?

You see I have been all over the United States, as you can see in the graphic above. With my trip to Canada last spring that put me at 12 countries that I have visited.

But I have only been to a handful of my neighbors homes in just my small block of Star City.

You might say I have been “Everywhere” but at this moment I feel like I have been “Nowhere.”

Go. Meet. Love. Disciple.

Back to School

Well I am going back to school. I am beginning my first semester as a seminary student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in less than a week. I will be taking classes through the extension program at the state office in Little Rock. While I am very excited about starting seminary, I am also anxious. There are many thoughts and questions going through my mind so I decided to share a couple with you:

1. Is seminary needed for ministers to be the most effective?
2. Do churches focus too much on scholastic accomplishment and not on ministerial experience?
3. Is seminary harder than college?
4. Do I remember how to write papers?
5. What do I wear to class? Casual or business casual?

These are just a few things, serious and not so, that are running through my mind. Any thoughts or advice?

Seventy times seven

Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Forgiveness is a beautiful thing. Is it not? I mean without it we would all be in rough shape. Forgiveness sets us free. We receive forgiveness from God by asking for it and repenting of our sin. He sets us free from our sin. We are no longer slaves to it. We also receive freedom by extending forgiveness to others.

In the book of Matthew the 18th chapter we see what Jesus requires from us for extending forgiveness. Peter’s guess of 7 times seems to be reasonable doesn’t it? If someone needs 7 chances with you it seems like it would be ok to cut that person loose right? Not according to Christ. He requires much more from us as His followers. To be honest with you I would be lucky to get to 7. By holding grudges with those that wrong us we hold ourselves captive to the bitterness that an unwillingness to forgive brings.

I heard a song by Chris August that was written with these scriptures in mind. It blessed me to here his story through this song. He states that , ” Seven times Seventy times, I’ll do what it takes to make it right.” I pray we all will. I have linked the song here. I hope you listen and enjoy!!

New Journey

God never ceases to amaze me. He also never ceases to provide at all times.

Before I left for Poland my dear friend Lewie told me I needed to have a group of people praying for what would be next when I returned from Krakow.

I knew I needed that because I did not want to be too concerned with that while I was there. I wanted to concentrate completely on what I was doing there in Krakow.

After being in Poland for a few months I recieved a message from Stephen Beavers(Pastor at FBC Star City) about whether or not I would be interested in their youth position. I prayed and sent them my resume and trusted that God would open and close doors according to His will.

We kept in contact over the next few months and after I returned home we met and I interviewed for the position. All went well and I now sit in the office typing this as the new Youth Minister at First Star City!!

Thanks for all who prayed for open doors!! God is so good. Please partner with me in prayer for this church and their youth!!

Surprise!!

Well I have been home for almost an entire week now and so far a lot has happened.  Visiting with friends and family in Arkansas and Texas was such a blessing.  Watching some great football was too!!  More than that is the great event that took place this past Saturday night.

You see Becca had been planning for a while to have a surprise welcome home party for me.  She had everything planned perfectly.  She had food, she invited everyone I know and got them there,  she even had a video of pictures from their semester here and my time in Poland!!

What she didn’t plan for was the fact that I had known about her plan for almost as long as she had been planning it.  You see I had a surprise for her that I had been working on as well.  I struggled with how to go about asking Becca to be my wife but when I got word of the party (From an anonymous individual) I knew this was the perfect opportunity.

It was hard to wait almost a week knowing that the ring was just sitting there in a box in my mothers closet.  It was also hard not to laugh when Becca would speak in code to people on the phone and to her folks and mine.  Her parents as well as mine knew that I knew so it was also tons of fun pretending that Beccas secret was still a secret!!

The hardest day was Saturday.  I had to be on my game.  We had a little scare after I used my niece Katelin for the video and she kept running around the house saying, “Be my Aunt Bec Bec!!”  But she did good keeping the secret!!  The night went perfectly.  I was so blessed to have my friends, family and even my Chicago family be there.  It was perfect.  Becca showed her video, then much to her surprise I had my video there ready to show!!  She looked a little confused.  The video seemed so long but soon enough my face popped up on screen telling Becca that there were some people that had a question for her.  First it was the football guys asking her to marry me in polish. Secondly the Compass family asked her in english, then lastly Katelin asked Becca to be her Aunt Bec Bec!!!

It was such an awesome feeling to finally get the chance to ask Becca something that I knew I wanted to ask her for so long.  Romans 8:28 reads,And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Thank the Lord for that.  It is truly evident in my life and I am sure in yours as well!!  Its so good to be home!!

Season wrap-up

It was the best season in Krakow Tigers history.  For a team that started off the season as a winless team the future didn’t look very bright.  When this past March rolled around and Clark, Michael and I hopped a plane to Poland from Arkansas we had no clue what we were getting ourselves into.  We had heard about the winless Tigers and how the guys were struggling to pick up the game of American style football but we never expected to be as surprised as we were with their hard work and dedication to this game.

I also didn’t know that only 5 months later I would be moving to play and help coach these Tigers.  On top of that they not only had won their first game as a franchise they were undefeated!!  I was apart of what was now one of the best teams in Poland!!

We ended the regular season undefeated and won our first playoff game decisively and it seemed like this fairy-tale season would end with us beating the Steelers in the PLFA II final.  We had beaten the Steelers by over 20 in my first game as a Polish Professional Football player.  After the first half everything was going according to plan.  We were beating the Steelers 20-6.  What happened over the the next 20 minutes would go down as probably one of the biggest upsets in PLFA history.  The Steelers scored 21 unanswered points to take the lead from us in the final seconds of the game.  Filip and I hooked up on a trick play that came up just short of pulling off the “Miracle at Juvenia”.

The guys were devastated.  I was devastated.  Everyone felt as though they had let the whole team down. The next two weeks would be hard as the temperature continued to drop below freezing during practice and the aches and pains seemed to intensify.  Watching the game film was the hardest part.  We still had one more chance to make it to the first league with a win over last years division II champs the Lowlanders.  It was going to be a much tougher game than the one we just played.

The guys showed up to every practice with a great attitude and were ready to do what they needed to do to win and finish the season out strong.  The only problem is we only had about 20 guys that were healthy enough to play!!  Injuries and broken hearts probably served as a major reason why we were without some major players on offense and defense.

As we warmed up for the game this past Saturday we were on the field to see the Lowlanders get off the bus.  They were huge!!  They looked like the Boll Weevils getting off that bus!!  The only problem for them was that there were only 21 of them.  I don’t know about you but 20 Tigers up against anyone else 21 are not good odds for the other guys!!  You could see the expression change on the other other guys’ faces.  They knew that we had a great chance to win.

Not only did we win….we dominated!!  30-14 was the final score as we hit harder and ran harder than these much bigger and faster guys all day long!!  We went out as winners!!  As champions!!  Just with a smaller trophy than the other guys!!  It was the greatest day of my life as a sportsman.  Better than my Ironman, better than Ranger School, better than Conference Championships.  It was so pure and so perfect.  It was great to see the faces of the players and coaches and even Missionaries that have worked so hard to accomplish what seemed like an impossible task when the season started.

Sorry for the length but I left so much out that I would love to share with you one day!!  Just ask!!

Semifinals: Tigers 24 Owls 0

On a wet and cold Sunday afternoon the hometown Tigers faced off against a familiar opponent in the Gliwice Owls.  The result was familiar as well as the Tigers wasted little time letting the Owls know that they did not stand a chance in this contest!!

The Tigers dominated a game that was a very uneventful game from the start.  The strong defense of the Tigers was just too much for the Owls to handle.

How did you like my attempt at being a sports writer!?!?!  I know I know it needs some work!  Anyways, congratulations to my fellow teamates as we have reached the Championship game (Poland Bowl) against the Zagłębie Steelers.

We ended the season as the first and second ranked teams with the only loss the Steelers having coming as a result of their trip to Krakow and my first game with the team!!

Stay tuned and follow us at the Tigers website!!  The game will be on the 24th of October!!

Please pray for one of our players, Artur, who suffered a season ending knee injury.  This comes as a huge blow to our team.  Also pray for one of the Owls players who suffered a seizure during the game.  This was very serious and scary to see.

Thanks for reading!!

Game Day Preview

Since my last post about Tiger football there has been a lot that has happend.  We went on to finish the regular season with an undefeated record with a win against the Gliwice Lions 56-20. Can you imagine with that score that this was actually the worst game of the season for us!?

With that win that gave us the number one seed in the playoffs and put us playing against the Bielawa Owls this upcoming sunday.  The winner of this game will then play in the championship game!!  I am pretty confident in our chances since we beat Bielawa pretty easily during the regular season.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  It has taken some time to get used to my schedule!!  I spend most of the week at either football or baseball practice.  I also go to one of the schools and teach 5-7 year old boys and girls football during the week!!  This is one of my favorites.  They are actually fast learners.  Just last night I went to a school to help teach english!!  Can you imagine me teaching anyone english!?

I hope all is well in your world.  I pray that it is!!  Thanks for reading.  Pray for continued harvest.

Enduring and Becoming

It has been an amazing couple of weeks here in Krakow, Poland as I seek to be another body under the yoke that is loving, leading, and serving the people of Krakow into a love relationship with our Savior Jesus.  I have learned so much in just a few short weeks.     Here are just a few:

1. Quiet times are essential to the survival of a mission minded/living person.(Duh!)
2. Sleep and rest are an amazing gift from God that gives us the energy daily to carry our cross.
3. Good work for the Lord is being done all around Poland and CEE(Central & Eastern Europe)

I have also learned that it is not a “sacrifice” to be here working along side these wonderful people, it is a blessing and privelage. This past Sunday evening  Seba preached on Pauls sermon from mars hill(complete with pictures of mars hill from their recent trip to Greece!) as recorded in Acts 17: 22-31.  It was a great reminder that we don’t have forever as humans to make a decision to follow Christ.  As missionaries it hightened our awareness and urgency.  Great word Seba!!

I would like to leave you today to reflect on some of Paul’s other inspiring words from 1 Corinthians 9.  I have felt at times and I am sure the other here on the field have as well felt like we have “undured” some hardships.  As I was reading Paul’s words this morning I was reminded in vs. 12 “Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right(speaking on the receiving of funds for their work from the people), but we endure anything rather that put an obstacle in the way of the Gospel of Christ.”  This is something that helps me when I think its hard to endure missing Becca and my family and friends that I have left behind.

Lastly, Paul’s words in versus 19-23 are what I will be mediating on for the rest of this day.

¹⁹For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²² To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel,that I may share with them in its blessings.

Enduring and Becoming.  I pray I will endure all things for the sake of the Gospel of Christ.  I also pray that I will become what and who I need to be at anytime to reach the people God puts in front of me.

Whoever it may be and wherever you maybe I pray that you will take the words of Paul and you will take action in being the light of Christ either on your campus or in your work place today.  Ill pray you will if you pray I will