God is Big Enough and Good Enough

Have you ever just laid in the middle of a field, or on a mountain looking at the stars as they light up the night sky? It really gives you a sense of how small we really are in this huge world, in the middle of this huge universe, in the vastness of this galaxy that exists in harmony with other galaxies. Well, with that picture in mind, God is even bigger than our knowledge of the known outer space. It is a very humbling thought, but it brings even more of a sense of my need to honor this great God of the universe.
This was the way that our speaker this week, Matt Rawlins, helped us to see that because God is so big, great, mighty, majestic, etc., that it should only make sense to fear Him out of reverence. It's not the fear that we are thinking in our minds of what fear has become for many but more of a respect, of honor that we fear Him. Why should I not fear the One who so intimately knit me together in my mother's womb? There can be nothing more than reverence for the One who loves each one of us more than we could ever hope or imagine regardless of what we have done or are currently doing or what we will do. He love us.

Focus

Sometimes there is just so much going on in our lives that it becomes easier and easier to be distracted. The enemy of my destiny is always ready to contribute to this. I have learned through the years to fight for my times with God but even in that we can so easily be thrown into a mind fogging issue that can take our focus away from God. For me, as this quarter begins my focus has been on the Lord but little by little issues have come up that have tried to take my focus off of Him.

When Jesus walked to the boat in the middle of the sea Peter stepped out and walked toward the Lord but as soon as the waves moved Peter he took his eyes off of Jesus and onto the circumstance. At that point his life was in danger but he quickly knew where to look for help, Jesus.

Keep your focus on the Lord. He is the only one who can bring you peace in the storm. He is the only one who can work all things for our good.

Jesus' eyes, so beautiful, so deep, so loving, so kind.

They draw me to Him, deeper, falling, blowing my mind.

How can I see so clearly who I am, who I am growing into?

How can I see you clearly in these hues?

The windows of His soul.

Revival Day

This is the eve of what we have been working on these past few weeks. It has been one month since my arrival here in Kona. We, as staff, have met together on a pretty regular basis. From making it a point to have as many meals together throughout the day, to meeting every Wednesday night in the DTS office, to just choosing to be together at any given point of any given day for any given reason. Our greatest times are when we are in these moments and out of nowhere comes the One who has brought us to this place. We relish these moments, no we actually live for these moments, to hear Him call our names, to feel His love poured into us. Can it get any greater than this? As we take all that God has poured into us this past month we are ready to pour out as extravagantly to the students who arrive tomorrow. We have prayed that all we have experienced and even more so will be poured out to each student. This is why it is revival not arrival. Hearts are going to start to come alive, lives are going to be changed. But this is just the beginning. Stay tuned as the journey of a lifetime begins for this Awaken DTS.