ECamping.

God is in control.

Camp is in swing. Tonight we have made it into scene 5 of God's story with the stories of when God flooded the whole earth and when God gave Abraham and Sarah a child. The students are beginning to show interest with their answers in large group settings. The small groups and the Story are taking place in the same room, which gives the students, leaders, and speaker an opportunity to have a "large-group discussion." After each scene of the story the speaker asks questions for the whole group to answer so that the students can "re-tell" the story back to the speaker. After these questions each group spends time discussing more questions about the story and their own lives; in a smaller group setting.

The students are getting deeper into the story of God and things are getting interesting. The students are beginning to struggle and discuss questions like; "Why did God kill everyone on earth with a flood?" "Why did it take God 25 years to finally give Sarah and Abraham a child?"

It is quite incredible to look at the story of God in a bigger perspective. Seeing everything that happened rather than just bits and pieces.

Please be praying for our students, they are such awesome people and I would love to see some of their hearts changed by hearing HIS story! It changed mine the first time I heard it just as they are hearing it this week. I love these students.

Miss everyone back home!

-brett

The time has come...

For three weeks now, a team of 7 have been preparing themselves spiritually, mentally and physically (okay, maybe not so much physically); to enter into a month + of english camps. It has been a ton of fun to be apart of a different family other than my family in the States. We have become so close to each other and enjoy spending time telling jokes (mostly about one and other). We have had the opportunity to share our fears with each other and the areas that we lack spiritually. In return of sharing fears we have been such an encouragement to each other as well.

God has been doing huge things in each of us, slowly and quickly changing our hearts for His glory. He deserves all praises. He gets all the glory from what happens here this summer.

Tomorrow we start our first English Camp. Praise God it is here! I am excited to meet all of the students tomorrow and really get things going! This summer is going by so quick! I can't wait to tell you guys about this week after it is over!

Please be praying for the students that will be attending camp this week!

-brett

prayer.

I have some questions I was introduced to today that I would like to share with you:

1.Do you pray to get from God or to get God?

2.Do you pray to move God or for God to move you?

3.Do you pray to get out of pain or through it?

4.Do you courageously punctuate your prayers with "Your will be done"?

5.Do you pray in faith knowing God is not the author of sin but is the author over sin?

6.Do you ask your friends to pray for you even if you know they will fail to do so?

7.Do you pray to both hear and accept God's will for your life?

8.Do you accept that God will answer your prayers with, "yes, no, or later"?

In the Gethsemane prayer (Matthew 26 : 36-46) Jesus prays with requests to God, but also acknowledging that God's will be done. He prays that the cup that he is about to bare be removed from him and finishes with, "Yet not as I will, but as you will." He also asks his friends to pray for him twice, in which both times they fell asleep. Jesus prays, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." Jesus accepted that God said no to his requests of the cup being taken from him. By accepting that His Father's will be done, he was changed and instead of praying to get away from his death, he endured his death and remained close with God up until his death.

I'm not sure what is going on in some of your lives but, if you are a Christian you are not excused from hard, hard things. Too often I find myself praying to ask God to take, "this cup" away from me, yet I do not punctuate my prayer with, "Your will be done." I punctuate it with, "God do this for me." We will face difficult things in our lives, real things; death, sin, etc. Jesus did, he faced real things; betrayal, temptation, death. We are not excused from it. But, we don't have to be alone through it.

Please pray for me as I ask God for direction in my life and that I would not let lies into my head!

to be continued....

June 15th and 16th, 2009 ( Music: Brooke Fraser; Album: Albertine)

"What to do when we know we have it all?"

I always find myself getting upset in times where God is not showing me huge things! I like to call those times when He is showing me huge things, "Spiritual Mountaintop Times." I struggle to find joy in much of anything on a typical day of this earth. On these average days, I desire for those times when I sense the presence of God so closely that I either cry or smile so largely that my jaw may break. The times spent in the Lord's presence are so peaceful.

Over the past year I have been slowly learning that you will not always be on a spiritual high in life. There are times where each day blends together and you must perform typical daily tasks. This morning I was reminded of something I heard a while ago, in the book of 2 Peter.

Simon Peter speaks of this truth, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who call us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promise, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

What does it mean or look like to lay down our lives and pick up faith? Jesus laid his life down for 33 years. 1 John 3:16 states, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." We ought also to lay our lives down for Christ and grow with Him. When we lie our lives down for Christ we escape the corruption in the world and we find that we belong to truth.

Knowing this, that his divine power has given us everything we need, what should we do in our everyday life? For myself, I become lazy and unproductive in the times when every day is similar to every other day. I imagine this creates in most Christ followers the result of becoming luke warm with their faith. We begin to lose the voice of the Spirit in the midst of everyday life. I say, "Yes, I will pray for that." Yet I seemed to have either not gotten around to doing it or gave a half hearted, non-believing prayer. There needs to be a balance in our lives to find things to do in everyday life concerning our faith in Christ.

I am so happy to have stumbled upon the book of 2 Peter again in a time where I have become somewhat luke warm.

2 Peter 1:5-9 "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins."

Adding to my faith.

brick wall.

"Good news for the broken hearted, for the ones who mourn in darkness,

God gives relief and gladness, Beauty for piles of ashes,

Come now from every nation, come join this celebration,

The center of our praises, King Jesus, Our. SAL.VA.TION."

Writers block in Estonia.

A_Cross // The_Earth

If you wonder if God exists in countries other than the States.

He does.

Go God. You hold the universe!