bobby mikulas [i am be-ing]

Woooa

2011-02-23T07:58:00.002+13:00

It is really wacko how similar the last chapter of A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God is to a reflection I wrote on here on being entitled "like yoda, but different". My thoughts are a little more choppy, but the idea is the same. Tozer calls it "The Sacrament of Living". A perfect end to the book and transition to life outside the pages.

anyone interested in reading the two back to back (would probably take 20 mins total if you went slow) discussing it, I wold love that.

Clive never disappoints

2010-12-02T18:58:00.006+13:00

[ If our taste, then -by a pirilious transition- perhaps "good" taste or "the right" taste. For that transition involves a kind of fall. The moment "good taste" knows itself, some of it's goodness is lost. Even then, however, it is not necessary to take the further downward step of dispising the "philistines" who do no share it. ] pg 86

My interpretation- The head of the nail of mastery, overmastery, and losing the both of them.

[ no one is more likely to be arrogant than a lately freed slave. ] pg 88

My interpretation- Christians often must pass through (and hopefully do) the pharisee stage- namely- pride, haughtiness, and the judging of others.

[ No one has time to do more than a few things well by the time he is twenty, and when we force a boy to be a mediocrity in a dozen subjects we destroy his standards, perhaps for life. ] pg 92-3

My reaction- wish someone would have told me that.

[ You can have enlightnement for ninepence but you prefer ignorance! ] Lewis quoting The Great Knock, Kirk. pg 112

My reaction - I can relate

[ How rightly Sir Maurice Powicke says, "There have been civilized people in all ages". And let us add, "and in all ages they have been surrounded by barbarism". ] pg 118

My reaction- that gives me hope

[ true training for anything wahtever that is good alwasy prefigures and, if submitted to, will always help us in the true training for the Christian life. That is a school where they can alwasy use your previous work no matter what subject it was one. ] pg 118

My question- does that apply to anything learnt? say, rock climbing or painting?g

Current reads

2010-11-19T21:11:00.007+13:00

I am going to use this as a canvas for thoughts and reflections as I interact with these texts.

Clive Staples Lewis
So far I am not shockingly impressed with Lewis' skill as a linguist and think it is neat he was mocked for trying to show off this skill at a young age when in fact it was how he knew to talk as a result of reading. Looking forward to reading the reasons he turned away and observing his journey back into the heart of Jesus. This will set the groundwork for me to delve into some of his sci-fi, when it's right. And yes, I am reading this version, cover printed in 1955. Holla.

Dinesh D'Souza
A little disappointed wit the limited reason and backing made to support claims- seems more of a report of opinion than a rigorous argument- definatley would not recommend to atheists at this point but could be proved wrong....regardless it is good to hear viewpoints and thoughts.

A.W. Tozer
So far intrigued at the emphasis on heart touch as I identify myself as currently being "athirst for God". The introductory phrase resonates too strongly now, "the hungry sheep look up, and are not fed". Really looking forward to this one.

Paul Boghossian
Ever challenging topic of epistemology- keeps me prying at how and why I know anything, and is egging me to continue to develop my perspective of justifying anything, but especially my beliefs.

Shane Claiborne and John M. Perkins
Great practical simple ways to lead in an honest dialogue style of writing. I think if these principles are learned by and when reading them in this or any book, maybe it's not quite time to take up arms or jump of the cliff. It's the affirmation that awakens the anointing, and this book is riddled with those subtle and silent nods.

like yoda, but different

2010-11-11T16:45:00.007+13:00

Don't try to do- be without trying to be

It's hard to know how to talk and who to talk to these days. Sometimes I feel selfish for talking too much. The worst is when I have such a deep bubbling surge of lava about to pour out and devour the nearest unsuspecting listener in my molten magma meltdown of thoughts, ideas, critiques, and questions. Far too often it's the same feeling you get trying to describe the experiences of an overseas trip to someone who has never been to the place you have recently returned from. They care, but they can't. Either way, I need to externalize, and so I shall.

What in the dill is going on anyway?

I recently remembered that I forgot that I never really grasped the immensity of the return of Jesus. I say my hope is in a King, but do I live daily like he will make all things right? Um, no, no I don't. Well he is coming back. What in the new earth would it look like if I embraced this in my heart as I do in my ever distracting brain anyway? My face would hurt. Plus, I bet I would floss more with that uncontainable smile and be a lot less sneaky with my treats in class in an unconscious effort to share them with the other earthlings. Oh eternal Father, teach my heart, yearn my soul to your coming.

I have been wrestling with this thing. I know the answer but I can't be in the answer. I keep trying but that is the fault, dat righ' dare. When I (me) try, I fail. So usually I try harder, and sink deeper into trying harder as I fail harder. But luckily, or gracefully (that is, with a filling of grace), I stop trying. It's not that I stopped trying by my own effort; that really is a waste, and I needed help with that too. I just need to be open to this filling of grace. Shoot. there it is again, the trying. I must stop trying to do by myself and invite Him to help me be, with Him.

I need.

Ah, better.

It always takes a while to realize I need, and to ask for help. Even with the most apparently possible tings ever, like receiving a gift, or shifting the weight. I think I am getting close again to not knowing I need help but simply just needing help and living in that, the answer.

This has meaning and purpose. This whole, time, place, thing. What a chuckle he may get from that. I suppose my conjecture of an understanding of the meaning is all the more risible.

Faith in the monuments passed. Hope in the revelation and light to come. Embracing the joy of now.

Joy of now? My wife. My family. Honest okayness with honesty with him. Turning my brain down and my heart up. Reception. And the big one, walking in grace, but not trying to.

It is coming. It is. Wait, no. He is coming. He is. Oh my, there it is, there he is. I forgot where I was looking and must have fallen asleep. Oh my, he is bright.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.

Psalm 35:4-5

2010-05-21T07:26:00.000+12:00

See if this won't effect you after reading it ten times slowly

Titus 3:1-7 (New International Version)

Titus 3
Doing What is Good

1Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, 2to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.

3At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Life update

2010-03-17T05:00:00.002+13:00

The past year has been no less exciting than any previous one, and this is my outlet to share it with you in brief. Such is the way of severely external personas! Please enjoy a mildly entertaining, comic, yet touching account of the last year through my lens.

As some of you may remember, I returned from a year of traveling with YWAM. The return was as much a learning process as the trip. I spent the summer working, with my family, and enjoying being in the same state at last as my long time girl and friend. I was secretly saving for a step I used to dare not even think of, and after some more traveling with my friend Mark to Ecuador (a huge step into pursuing the ever growing faith Jesus), I proposed to Brooke Noel Howard. The week I returned I bought the ring we began allowing our thoughts of the future to become realities.

Currently, I live in a house down the street from my bride to be with five other guys. We have wrestled often, built tire swings and forts, bought tamales from the neighbors, and had pet ducks for a time. Our life is never dull and always changing, and it’s great to be walking through life together. Academically, I am now back at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Fall semester, I experimented with some new classes and majors while still studying in the Business School. I am now studying Humanities (where all the money is) and I absolutely love it.

Though I am still managing to climb and play soccer, free time is scarce because since August I am also working as a licensed Realtor at Walnut Realty here in Boulder. It’s a great way to be able to help out a lot of my friends and other people. I have been doing a lot with helping students buy homes and stock them full of roommate renters rather than pay the ridiculous rent prices of Boulder. Pretty cool stuff.

All said, I am currently prepping for the big day coming this summer and working through midterms. It’s a busy time, but it is a good one. It’s been great to learn to have joy and peace amidst an apparent crazy time of life. Thank you all for continuing o be a part of my life and adventure!

2010-01-01T08:44:00.002+13:00

End of the year. What to say? It has been quite a year indeed. Amidst the change, the growth, the perseverance, the trials, the fun, the joy, the frustration, the sadness, the longing, the rhythm of m life, only this holds true: Jesus Christ is fully God and was fully man. He came as God's only begotten son to rescue us from the slavery of sin by becoming the sacrifice for us. Through Him we find life, and life to the fullest.

True, we are all on our own journeys and are at different places. We must all remember, though, that despite moods, feelings, emotions, fear, uncertainty or doubt, busyness or confusion, our relationship with Father is what governs all else in our life. For me, to make that a priority starts with first admitting the pitiful truth that I need His help. I need His help to believe, to love, to move and be.

As the year ends and a new one begins, we must hold onto the truth we have known from the past, remember His faithfulness and the times we knew He was real. We must strive to be present, living fully where we are as fully who we are created to be, and we must long for grace and hope in the future. Let the brilliant simple revelation never fade, and let us plea for grace when it does- "God is real."

I am thankful for my family, for their wisdom, encouragement, and support. I am thankful for Brooke Noel Howard and my soon to be family on her side. I am thankful for my friends and the joy, encouragement, and passion they bring out of me. I am thankful for the hard times, and the chance to step into a new level of faith and knowing Him. I am thankful for Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:15-23

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

As of now

2009-10-31T04:47:00.003+13:00

Hello all.

Right now is a trying time in my life. I am a Christ follower, fiance, a student, a Realtor, and all the rest. My blog is currently low on the list of priorities, but please feel free to read old posts. They are a detailed account of my adventures last year around the world. You can learn quite a bit about me and many other things by reading them.

2009-04-01T08:23:00.005+13:00

Hello again friends!

I am home and safe from my adventure, and needless to say there are countless experiences and stories to share.

The past months have been quite diverse, to say the least. I was in New Zealand for a few months starting in October. Here I lived in community with 21 other students where we shared work duties, bathrooms, and our lives. Some became life friends. It wasn’t always easy. In fact, it rarely was. I really re-defined myself in God and learned and am learning His love and grace for me personally. I was also getting pumped full of incredible knowledge and wisdom from amazing teachers who have been doing this whole thing for much longer than I. We had lecturers fly in from all around the globe and teach on subjects such as The Father heart of God, vision and calling, and many more. Each week was a new lesson and a new speaker, and every one was well versed in his particular subject. I affirmed a lot of truths I only knew from life experience, and absorbed some new ones as well, testing and trying everything as I went to prove it against the Word and my own personal convictions. It was really good to learn and understand a lot of the why behind my beliefs and truly know not just what I believe, but why I do. It seems pretty silly otherwise. From all this I grew in my confidence in Christ and His bride. Indeed there is jacked up stuff in the Church, with Christians, with myself. That is almost the beauty of it though, if we embrace it properly. We are just a bunch of messed up people aware of our brokenness and need for His love and mercy trying to learn how to love and live together. It seems when we lose sight of our dependence on Him and each other and start thinking we got it right that stuff gets a little religious and Pharisee-like. Through it all, God is still divine and the beauty of following Christ gets more and more radiant with deeper understanding. Christianity truly is a revealed belief, and as you walk it you learn it. And it is true, Christ knew we would be a wreck, and still he chose us to represent Him to the world and redeem the broken and lost. Craziness.

The second half of my trip was spent raveling through Southeast Asia with a group of five others. Our target audience to share the love with was backpackers. What backpackers are in this context are world travelers. These people truly are unreached in a lot of ways. They are generally young people either running away or searching for more (particularly in Asia), and of course just vacationing. It was amazing to simply live our life as we normally would, loving each other, sharing our lives, farting and joking just like everyone else, but seeing the radically different lifestyle we as Christians have. It is new and fresh, and as we came to learn, contagious. People are genuinely curious about this lifestyle of love and servitude. We had opportunities to share the gospel, help people understand the Bible better, worship together, laugh, clean kitchens, volunteer at hospitals, pray over the lame and sick, encourage other believers, listen to ramblings of the drunk, lonely, beggars ands oppressed, feed homeless, and inspire many more. The stories from these months are endless. I know we made a difference, helping people take steps however small (but vastly significant) towards truth and life. I had to re-learn, as I always do, how little it depends on my desire or effort to see change in people. Although those things are good, it all comes down to Gods grace and mercy. A simple yet profound realization when it hits me full on.

Being home is great. I have a new perspective on our lives. We have truly been blessed with so much. I did absolutely nothing to be born where I was. This life is a gift. I am learning to use the tools and gifts God gave me to bless others. Rather than resent my comfortable and luxurious lifestyle (compared to the world), I am learning to keep my assets liquid; coming in from Him and going out to others. If God gives me a hammer, and I hold onto it instead of use it, I will never see the nail gun He has planned for me. It is so important to use the blessings I have to bless others.

I met a lot of amazing people. Some changed my life. I also realized even deeper how incredible my circle of friends and family are. We have a pretty special thing going here. I cannot say how much you all mean to me. To have all your prayer and support is a blessing I pray others can experience. I could not have done and learned what I did without you all. I found my identity in Him again. I grew in my passions and understanding of them, and gained new perspectives on life and truth.

As for my plans now, they will be ever changing. My short term plan is to go back to Boulder for school next year, switching my major. I plan to be involved with my Church this summer, hanging out with the youth ( I don’t really get the adults yet). My life will continue, and my plans and goals will change and grow. This will remain constant; my life will be centered around understanding Gods love for me, growing in my love for Him, and loving the snot out of others. It’s hard, but it’s good and true.

I would love ot share more of this chapter in more detail. Of course this is just a glimpse of my life lately, and I want to learn some of what has been going down in yours. I am having a get-together on SATURDAY APRIL 18th at 7:00 PM at my home. I plan to share some stories in more detail, show some pictures, and share some life with you all. Please join for a night of friendship and intersecting of lives. It’s what it’s all about you know.

More life to live!

Bobby Mikulas

“If we have any resources, any voice, any power, any influence, any energy, we must convert them into blessing for those who have no power, resource, energy, or voice.”
-Rob Bell

“We can believe in CPR, but people remain dead until someone breathes new life into them.”
-Shane Claiborne

I'm back!

2009-03-20T10:19:00.002+13:00

Hey guys. I have been back for some time, but have been taking some time to re-adjust and meet with guidance counselors for next year, and all the stuff like that you just gotta do. I am so excited to share with you all about my trip and hear about whats been going down in your lives. As always, in person is best soooo... I am having a bit of a get together and you are all invited. We will have some good times of pictures, a short video i am putting together, and snacks (not dinner). Please try to come as It will be a more in depth look at the last few months of my life and I wold love you all to know it more.

SATURDAY APRIL 18TH AT 7 PM at the MIKULAS HOUSE.

hope to see everyone there!

quick update...

2009-03-07T11:44:00.002+13:00

Yo!

Since I have been back from outreach, I thought I would give you a quick recap of what I have been up to.

I spent a week on the base with the rest of the gang. We had a lot of discussion time and thought through a lot of what was coming and what we had been through, and not to mention had a sweet square dancing partay at the end.

From there, 12 of us spent 3 days at a batch (cabin sorta) on the beach at kaikura. we hiked, swam, and cooked for each other. This was our final goodbye from the group we had spent the last months with.

Seeing as I did not get to do much hiking with my bum leg, I opted to leave early and hitched with my buddy joel to Mt. Cook. We hitched over two days, and spent the night in the backyard of a family. We didn't want to pay 28 dollars each to set up a tent at the campground, so we just knocked on a front door and asked if we could crash their backyard. We ended up getting hot sowers and breakfast out of the deal, not to mention a new friendship.

Mueller hut was our destination at MT. Cook, and I managed to squeeze in some mountaineering above the hut across a ridge. Jpwl stayed the night while I hiked town, hitched out, and spent the night on the side of the road.

The next day, I met up with some friends and we re-located the tiniest car ever from Christchurch to Auckland over the next few days. It was a tights squeeze, but pirate hats, mullet wigs, and portable speakers made it bearable. We crashed on the side of the road two nights, and spent a day at the International house of prayer in Taranga and a night in a YWAM base as well.

I got dropped about an hour north of Hamilton, and hitched back to Waikato University where I spent two days with my friend Amber. We hit up a concert and hung out, and I got a chance to unload some of my thoughts on paper. A good few days.

I am currently at Patrick Dodsons house. I will be here for some time, observing his life and getting ready to come home the 20th. I may also crash some friends or do some more hiking, we will see what happens.

Indeed a constant: missing you all. CO is the shiznat.

Love!

Update 2-16-08

2009-02-16T13:37:00.007+13:00

Well Hello Friends and Family.

Man it's been a while huh? I apologize for the inconsistency. I have much to share, and I will do my best to be clear and concise yet flavorful.

I ended last you with a small update from Koh Tao, a beautiful tropic Island in Thailand. We were here for about five days. It was really awesome, and of course I cannot say enough, but again I think the best way will be to resort to sharing a story.

We met a girl named Svea. She was awesome and we invited her into our group. She hung out with us all week, but this was some of the first interaction she has had with Christians. She said back home, it's not anything like this, and anyone who is a Christian is boring and old. So we did what we do best and acted like ourselves. That really is it, and what we really felt was the best way to love her. She shared meals with us, played games, laughed and even cried on a few occasions. It was very powerful for her to simply observe regular daily life as we lived it. One thing I notice more and more is how abstractly different being a Christian is from the average western world. Not in a weird way, we just live life differently. Small things like travelling with six people who we did not choose, loving each other unconditionally (trying) and worshipping together become quite abstract outside of our Christian circles at home. Svea got to witness a small chunk of the church as she watched and interacted with us throughout the week. She worshipped with us for the first time, and we gave her a Bible she eagerly requested and quickly became fascinated with. The beauty of al this is we really didn't do a thing, other than anything we would normally do: Love God, eat food, play games, joke, enjoy each other, argue, and all the rest.

We also hung out with a lot of other people and befriended most. We also spent a good deal of time with Jonas and his girlfriend, both with dreads, whom Joel and I climbed with, and at least ten others including Will, the guy Joel and Dave Scubad, Scubadid, Scubied with. We had shared meals, laughs, hugs, snorkel gear, hammocks, squatty potties, and contact info. People are consistently astonished with our life example. Easy enough for us. One common theme in this Island was how little it actually depends on our effort or desire. Of course all these things like vigor and zeal, Bible studies and prayer are good, but in fact are not what makes change. These things are merely tools and instruments God uses to make the change. Over and over, it's less about me that I care to admit.

During one of our Bible studies, this passage really came home for me:

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy Romans 9:15,16

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. 9:30-32

Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them."the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:5-13

Al l this, we put to life realizing that we had been and were being righteous, a good thing, but perhaps we got caught up in the righteousness and forgot about the God. Of course we hadn't forgotten God, but I think a quick check in who actually does the healing, the working, and the miracles needed to come home again. It's simple really..."The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved..."

With the Island Of Koh Toa behind us we headed for Malaysia. Not an original plan, but our 15 days visa in Thailand required a "visa run". Malaysia was it, and we couldn't have even hoped for what we found there.

We arrived in Malaysia weary and tired form travel, and slept in a cheap hostel. The next two days we spent at Monkey beach, botanical gardens, and on the streets of Penang. We met travelers and locals, homeless and prostitutes, and prayed for a good handful of them. Most were grateful or confused, but usually both. It was really great, because we ended up staying here for ten days, and we really made it our home. We got to know local favorites in food, drink, and hangouts. Two days into it we went to church, the first church we had seen in about a month. I cannot express how amazing the body of Christ is, and how much I take it for granted. Being back in a church, one no more special than any other, just felt like home. WE were very encouraged and renewed. Its incredible the unity we have in Christ all around the world. Just being able to interact with Christians was so so awesome. A much needed thing at this time. At Wesleyan Methodist, we also met a group of people who would become our family. Laurence, Cheryl, Cordillia, and some others we a group of energetic Malay youth that very hastily invited us out to lunch as soon as service had ended. We learned later that in Penang as common as "How are you" is "Have you eaten?". Needless to say we gratefully accepted a free meal and some good times. This friendship I could write about forever, but maybe I shouldn't. I'll try to hit some highlights.

WE decided few weeks prior we wanted to pay for our translator to go to a YWAM school, so we were quite tight on money. It finally came to the point that we had to stop relying on our saving and effort, and say, ok God, you know what, we need help. During the week, we had been given couple hundred Malay Rigget, roughly 100 USD. It also was conveniently Chinese New Year, a big deal in the partially Chinese community of Penang. With this holiday comes the tradition of older married couples giving money in red envelopes to young unmarried people. I don’t know if it is like in your face you single loser, here is some money, or what. I dont think so, but still God provided. We managed to stay in a nice hostel, 5 in a room that slept WITH AC! This would have been nice to just get money, but Laurence pulled some e strings and before long we were sleeping in a house of his friends for free. So awesome. He really was incredible. Reminded me a lot of Zack W, just serving recklessly: driving us everywhere, early or late, buying all our meals, when really he couldnt afford it. We shared dinner with His family, of course their treat against our will, shared worship, prayer, and they encouraged us like mad. WE even scrapped some money, and cooked them a meal: breakfast for dinner. WE made eggs on toast with cheese sauce, The potatoes turned out more cassorole mush like due to Joel’s over-stirring but mostly the single Wok we had to cook with. We rolled with it though and pulled it off like a culinary masterpiece. They had no idea, and either lied really well, or loved it. Laurence and cordilla and all the rest were answers to so many of our prayers.. Truly, it was incredible, I cannot say enough. They were Christ to us when we needed it most. Laurence also helped me unpack a lot about myself and my past that is helping me along this grace and unconditional love thing God is teaching me.

In Penang we did so much, I feel a need to list some of it. Of course each accompanies endless stories, so this is just a snapshot. We.....
Prayed for Prostitutes, fed Homeless, prayer walked the streets at night, loved on some travelors, slept in rat infested nasty hostels, took city buses, celebrated daves birthday with dessert and a movie, volunteered at a hospital, wokred with a charity, helped at two homeless centers, met up with some other YWAMers, saw Chinese dragon dancers, played guitar with a stranded American homeless dude, played soccer with kids, ate lots of freaking delicious Indian food and Malay food, spun fire on the rooftops, enjoyed fireworks, gave a sermon to a hungry homeless crowd, shaved my hair with a fellow traveler, man, I really could go on. Look forward to this section of my presentation when I get back.

Ok. Let me take a breath here. Ah. Ok. Penang and Malaysia was now a thing of the oast as we said a tearful goodbye to Laurence and Cord as the Van picked us up and 4 am. From here we traveled up to an area we had previously agreed on called Tonsai. our hopes were to take advantage of its famous cheap accommodation nd food, met new people as it is a backpacker hotspot, and to meet up with some climbers we had met earlier as this is the climbing hub in Thailand. It of course did not come easy though, and no joke, I was in a van with a seat leaning forward literally like 30-45 degrees for hours. All for God, uh, right?

We arrived in Tonsai and much to my delight it was loaded with things of me: sport climbing routes out the wazoo, slack lines aplenty, bouldering, beach soccer, ahh it was to perfect. Actually, it was. Turns out 9 out of 10 peopel who enbter the beach get sick. Dave unfortunately was sick a lot, really sick. Kieran and Kelsey also shared a night puking gout of the bungalow, and Stephen had a brief fit of vomiting as well. I would live to say I didn't, but I yacked for about ten minutes on a hike to climbing, but then was fine. Joel conquered Tonsai Tummy. He and I waged a mental war against the bug all week. : "Feeling good, I feel great, Best I ever felt!"
Apart from getting sick we were very active. We did some of my favorite climbing ever. You wil have to see pictures. The climbing was not just leisure though. Joel and I payed out of our pockets for gear, and we taught and brought a few people with us, one girl for 3 days or so. the chilled out climbing environment breeds all sorts of good conversation, and we got to bo cool to her in that way. We also went on a trek to a lagoon (kind of, more like a swamp) with Emily and Raz, two girls traveling together. WE made mud sculptures and had great conversation about our faith and their lives and backgrounds. WE got accustomed to the local food, and chicken lady was a favorite. Each night was pleasantly courted with blaring music no more than 20 yards away, often live, bamboo underneath our backs(the bungalows were bamboo rooms 10x10, 200 baht(roughly 6$) a night), mosquito nets around us, and the soothing stench of the nearby toilets. It wasn't exactly luxury, but we were thankful. We had cool opportunities to worship on the beach at night and hang out at bars as the sun went down. WE encouraged our friends and listened to thier stories. Something I was learning personally came ot me when Dave was sick. I was really praying fo rhim a lot, and feeling ghis pain very much. A very simple verse became ver yreal for me . 2 Cor 7:6 "But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus". It was interesting I was praying for God to comfort davein his sickness, and in the Bible God comforts Paul by sending Him Titus. I soon became the answer to my own prayer and jsut sepnt it me with dave, being there, buying him stuff, talking, praying, just comforting him. Simple stuff, but a thought to include you in I suppose.

I am gonna be honest, I hate typing and this is a lot. I am afraid I am fading fast. So this is it, the ending. We spent a few days in Bangkok after a 23 hour bus ride up, ate some good food and enjoyed a nicer hostel for debriefing, and now we are back at the base. Its a week of re-entry discussion and proactive future planning. Being with everyone is weird,, and i am sure America will be even weirder. This still remains: you guys are so incredible, and all you have done and are doing for me now is so so amazing. You really dont know. I cant wait to plug back into my community and more so my family. Big sigh, so long for now.

Bobby

New Post-JAN 17

2009-01-17T15:45:00.005+13:00

Hello!

I know I just posted one, but I want to give a little more detail and I doubt anyone over there will be opposed. Some stuff will be repeated, but that's ok.

So for starters, an update on my leg. It's doing great! I am running. climbing, I can squat on my knees so range of movement is close to 95%. Just building back muscle now. God is awesome, it's crazy how it has healed so fast. Oveall health is really good. No headaches, lots of energy.

We all get money for our own food so I am in control of my diet. Its been a lot of nuts and veggies, especially delicious green bean from the market. But of course a lot of Pad Thai as well. Everything here is fried. Gotta kill of the bugs somehow i suppose. WE did in fact eat bug once, all fried up and yummy. Hoppers, grubs hat exploded in our mouth, and crickets. Yum. I told a story about Roti man, but Roti is our favorite dessert. I m going to attempt to replicate thai roti at fourth of July this year.

And for our travels. WE heaed up north with a thai/burmese translator we met up with in Bangkok at the YWAM base there. From masai just outside of Chang Ri we crossed the Burma border for 5-7 days. It was really amazing here. Burma is very strict and the government tries not to let any outside influence in or info out. There are a re lot of issues they don't want the world to know about. Our mission here was to encourage the Christians that are living in Burma. We made it up to a hill tribe one day via long windy road in the back of a truck. It is so behind times there; kis on water buffaloes in the never ending terraced rice fields, and a smile from every single person we said "Maga Laba!" to. At the tribe we prayed for our translators sick parents and spent the afternoon loving on the local kids. We gathered them in a circle and ;layed hands on their little heads and prayed fpr them too. very cool. Back in the village we did a lot of hanging and loving people, and spent one night praying and worshiping with a local bible school. they town is about 1/2 Christian actually. WE prayed for each student individually and layed hands on hem too and they payed for us. An amazing body is that of Christ, united all over the world.

From here our prayer and discussion took us into Lao. WE spent all our time in a town called Vang Vieng. This was our start of our focus group for outreach, the backpackers. This town was loaded with them and we saw a lot of cool stuff. It s a difficult ministry, because we are more panting seeds and watering some, and being a lot of the beginning steps in the journey to salvation. Regardless, there were a lot of cool col conversations about life, God, purpose and the rest shared over the dinner table, while climbing together, ant the bars dancing, in hammocks, tubing down a river, or overlooking the amazing mountains from the top of a trek up one. We prayed for some people and shared the news that Jesus loves them and has plans for their lives. We got really close to a lot of people, swapped info, and are planning on meeting up with some in a few weeks south to climb together.

By now we had traveled by plane(12 or so hrs) bus(13 hrs +) slowbaot (2 day ride). canoe thing. tuk tuk, truck, and now it was time for a train ride to bangkok. After 10 hours or so. we arrived and spent the day there. Some good conversation here as well and a cool chance to prey for a kid form Canada we met. Then it was off to the southern island we are at now by 9 hour bus. Of course no sleep this night, the buses are brutal for sleeping. Our lat mode of transport was a huge ocean boat to the island, a 2 hr ride. It was so fun being in front on the side of the boat and getting plastered with after from the huge spray and massive swells. for me and Joel and matt, this was better than Disney land, but the rest of the boat was vomiting everywhere! i couldn't help but laugh. A lot. Really hard. Kieren dry heaving for an hour was just too much. Our team prayed the Lord prayer for a while a few days ago, and He sure did provide our daily bread and provisions for staying here. WE are somewhat short on money as we are going to try to pay fpr our translator to do her own YWAM dts with our money(and yours i suppose), and we have been paying for peoples tubes, climbing gear, meals........keeping the Lords Money liquid as I like to say( I guess iIdid learn something at business school). All this said, we have been tight. Well it turned out with an agreement for a few deasl, we managed to score free rooms, lunch, and snorkeling for 5 of us for then ext four days at this amazing scuba resort. Two of the guys on my team are going to get their license with another person named will and try to minster to Him(its the cheapest place in the world to do it) all this is costing us about 15 dollars a night for 6 people in three rooms with bed showers, food. its crazy. As for me, I am going to try to reach out to the local climbing scee and have met two people I am going to try to boulder with soon. Its great stuff. I have been really seeking God a lot since we have been here and am reuniting with the beauty of spending good quality time with him. Just walking or praying or swimming or reading, just being with Him alone. Dad you would be proud, I am swimming the the ocean for fitness. ( the three months of recovery time hit me hard)

An for the team, we are doing great. Really learning how to disagree well, and love each other. I am getting close with a lot of guys. It great to be constantly doing worship together, studying the bible, and praying. Today our intercession topic is family and friends back home, so we prayed for you guys all a lot and will be all day.

Its rally hard for me to be here at this amazing place. I really am feeling ofr all the people we have net and seen. I am being reminded that God does take care of us so much, and blessings are okay, actually great! I am relearning the gospel of grace and His unconditional love and obsession with us as his children. Lately, some awesome scriptures had been these:

Ephesians 2:8-10 (New International Version)
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
You are my God; save your servant
who trusts in you.

3 Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for I call to you all day long.

4 Bring joy to your servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.

5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.

6 Hear my prayer, O LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me.

8 Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.

9 All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, O Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.

10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may fear your name.

12 I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.

13 For great is your love toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of the grave. [a]

14 The arrogant are attacking me, O God;
a band of ruthless men seeks my life—
men without regard for you.

15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
grant your strength to your servant
and save the son of your maidservant. [b]

17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
for you, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.

Please continue to pray for me. Pray for me to be able to be with the Lord and hear from Him, even if it is jsut He loves me. pelase pray for boldness in lovingly sharing the gospel. Pray for my climbing friends as well, that God would ready their heart for truth after a bridge of love is built.

You all are so great. I cannot say how I have learned the amazing blessing my family ad friends are. I am excited to get back and pour into our home and live with you all again. Until then, Love God, Love people. And if you can't love people up close, then something isn't quite right in how you view them, but until you get that right ,love 'em from a distance!

yours and His,

Bobby

UPDATE!!! FINALLY-- Jan 14th

2009-01-15T20:19:00.001+13:00

Hey guys.

this is gonna be suprer speed, i only have alittel time. I am sorry for no updates lately, but I ahev been in Burma and Laos, both countries where it is not the best idea to be opening up any interent stuff that suggests you may be a missio0nary. of course we arent, just backapckersm but it coulda been shady. anyway....

WE went up to northern thailand to do some traditional ministry for a week or so. we had a trasnslaoter with us named tae who became family very fat. we ended up heading with er to burma to a small hill tribe and a town. we did a lot of stuff hanging with kids, praying for them , and jsut loving. we also had a chance to ecnourage a small 30 person bible school and pray for them each indidvudually and owrship with them/ teach them a song.....HALLELLUAH! easy enouhg, but hearing 30+ our gruoop passionaltyl worshioping the creator was very powerful. After a tearful goodbye to our translator and countless amazing stories, we headed back to thailadn for a night.

WE then proceeded to LAO. turns out coming fomr bordering coujntires we only get a 15 day visa now. so lao it was, as we were plannign on going there anyway and we flipped a coin to decide, and loa it was. we stayed in a sweet town called vang vieng for about a week. here we did a lot of backapcker tyoe stuff. WE got a chance to do some rock climbin g ina cave frull of stalagatites, go tubing, rope swings, hiking, mountianieering, so much. it was sweet to tkae some backapcjers alongside our lifes ands pour truth into them for a week. we saw some really cool stuff and came close to alot aof people. one story eneded with us getting really close to a roti(liek a thia crepe but better) vendor and we actully as far as wqe could tell nmed his daughter at the ened of the week..you guessed it, tae.

I am currently sitting int a interent cafe in Bangkok. it really nuts. I will say this, there are a lot of good things happening here. this is so amazing and i love my family and commubnity so much, this jsut enhances that a ton. i have a ton of pictures and sotries to tell copplete with notes and stuff wehn i get back, but till then , its all about Jesus, he is real, its crazy. i love you guys a lot, bye bye

a quick one...dec 26

2008-12-27T03:41:00.002+13:00

Hey guys. i am sitting in an internet cafe in BANGKOK!! its crazy here. We have seen still alive inside out fogs, eels, pig heads, liver, pig uterus, jsut baout everyting you can imagine really. there are dogs everywhere, its nuts. i do ot have time to describe it all, onloy a few more mins allowed on here

log story very shortened..all is well! getting some quality time with God int h mornings and throughout the day, my leg ishealing up nicely, our team is closer than ever, and God is constantly showing h imself to us in new ways. Going on a temple tour tomorrow and an orphanage tomro night for ten days via 12 hr bus ride. crazy, but so so awesome

I am sorry i have to go now, please keep praying for me, i am praying for all of you, i am.

Merry Christmas to you all,

(family, those verses were amazing, read them all againtoday, thank you so much. )

one last note.....

2008-12-19T17:49:00.002+13:00

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been so long since an update. There has been a lot happening, so i'll do my best..please ignore the bazillions of spellign and grammar errors, I stink a big one at typign and am trying to squeeze this in before dinner and packing......

We had teaching on Faith and healing/ delivernce in the last two weeks. It was very very good. The speakers were very real, regular ol' slobs like us. They jsut love Jesus and know His mercy and power. We got to see and learn some really neat stuff. A lot of what we leanred about healing was quite similar to the style of ministry we do when we go to new orleans, so that was cool. I have had more peopel pray for me more intensly in the last two weeks than in a while. WE have been earnestly seeking helaing for my dumb leg. I will say thi; at this point, it is the best it has been by far and it has taken drastically less time than in the past to get here. Praise God, woo hoo! I ran normally today, am not wearing my brace, and rode a bike normally yesterday. It's really awesome. There is still some stiffness, but I anticipate it to conitnue to heal. We aslo got to see a lot of deliverance from family stuff and cool things like that. and check this: this girl has headaches a lot, and the guy teachign said it is likeyl form her spine, which she agreed to for various reason. We ended up seeing that one leg was a few inches shorter, causing her whol back to be out of wack. Well we praye for her, and I kid you not, I saw with my own two eyes her leg grow like 2 inches. It was freaking wierd. Cool though. Lots of cool things goign on.

Our team is closer than ever before, and we are having a sad time leaving eachother for outreach. Its great though, God has done some amazing things. I am really leanring how to trust Him and seek Him in the littel things. It is incredible how faithful He is with speaking to me throughy the Word. Really crazy faithful. He is very stern in trying to tell me to be bold and speak out what is on my heart and be confident. I read 4 incredibly similar verses n the last week so blately encourgaing me. Whe you listen fo rHIm he answers. its cool

these are some scriptures i have been meditating on.

i thess 5 10-24

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Final Instructions
12Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.19Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22Avoid every kind of evil 23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

--hebrews 10 32-36

Command and teach these things. 12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

--1 timothy 4

Command and teach these things. 12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

mt 10:27

What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.

pretty blatent huh

My team leaves tomorrow morn at eight or so. WE are headed to nelson on the tip of the south island for a four day sabatacle of sorts; kayaking, worhsip, meditating on scripture, praying, eating, sleeping, giggling, reading, planning, probly frolicking........ jsut really preparing for the thai adventure. WE have been praying a lot for God to be faith ful to some of His promises like seeing people healed and thigns of that nature. Really goign out on some limbs expecting God to work. And He will indeed. ALso reconginznig our need to be in the word daily and worshippiing often to keep close to Him, serving and loving in the dirtiest, smallest, simple tasks.

WE will be flying out the 24th for thialand and will be in bankok for Christmas. We will have a 3 day breifing on culture and behavior, and then we will be spending a few days in Bankok. Just after this we go to ten days in an orphanage. Gonna be sweet. After that we are on our own, so going to be focusing a lot on backapackers after that (world travelers) > A lot of poeple traveling around are searching for themselves, God, truth, etc. our goal is to be examples and lights to them, bringing them one step closer to the Truth of Jesus Christ. I didnt understand that audience at first as I am sure you dont now, but it really is a intersting group with lot of questions. WE will be spending a lot of time in touristy areas, trying to be the group people want to hang, as backapakcers are alwasy looking fo rsomehting fun to do. ( thats a sweet bonus for us, have fun. ) WE asre bringing a guitar and thats about it. A few shirts, sandals, Bible. Please be praying for Unity and protection, as well as for GOd to be working in our encounters.

There really is so much to tell you about, and I cant even start here or now. Its really amazing, and I have some life long freinds for sure. Been thinking a lot about hoem as well and got some cool ideas for next year in Boulder. I so so look forward to sharing a lot of this stuff with you in person. I have all the lectures on my i pizzle, and really want to share some stuff with anyone who will listen. Pictures wil come and sotries as well.

As far as contact when we are there, it wil lbe limited. WE will be reporting to YWAM one time a week, and probaly forwarding some of that home as well. I love all you so much, thank you so so much for your prayers and support.

I apologize for the breifness, I may try to shoot some other stuff out while ion nelson, we will see......dinner bell jsut rang, one last challenging thought:

Jesus commonly talke d abotu knowing HIm. I think I try to do that, but he also says he needs to know us. this challenged me to let him know me more, share myself with HIm , talk, chat, hangout wiht him, converse normally, stuff liek that. ASfter all , He did say 1"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'--------mt 7

some thoughts.... Dec 2

2008-12-02T14:32:00.005+13:00

Hey guys. Here is a quick debrief of the last 2 weeks:

WE had a video lecture week. Pretty awful to tell the truth. I think our guy who was gonna speak on that subject canceled or something, but we were taught how to interact with people through a video...pretty lame. The movie was old and had a lot of logical fallacies and poor teaching based on opinion. But, that is ok really, I guess you gotta have one worst week.

Last week we had three speakers. The first was a youth pastor speaking on evangelism. It was great, and really made it simple. Of course, the reaction for this topic is "oh boy, another evangelist" but it was good. His definition of evangelism was one beggar telling another where he found food. We wet through some common styles of evangelism, and came to a point that none are wrong, but can be very wrong choice in certain situations. For example, not saying anything is sometimes really powerful, but it can be a dumb choice too. Confirmed a lot of stuff for me, some ideas like this: If someone ons doing Christianity in a way differently than you, its ok! I would maybe do it different, but I would not have the audience that person does. If you can't love them up close, love and encourage them froma distance. Of course, there are times to correct and help people who are doing it so wrong that they Are hurting the kingdom, but for the most part, everyone is gonna be different, and thats ok, in fact its good.

The last 3 days we had a couple come and speak on global missions. We looked a lot at the world and people who are unreached, and also global issues that we as Christians need to be wokrng towards. They were a great example of a married couple being in love with each other and with Christ. It was fun to watch them. They really rely on God, and he is faithful to them! Cool to see and be inspired by. They encouraged us to find what we love and use that. They were keen to photography, and seeing how they can use that for the Kingdom. Cool cool .

I really have not been too consistent with spending time with God the last month or so. I can feel it, and it stinks, but I come up with all these lies of how I can justify not spending time with Him. It is a lot easier for me when No one is making me (since we are supposed to here, I automatically don't want to. Its a pride thing....workin on it.) That is so contradictory to all I believe and teach, so please forgive my hypocrisy. But, i said something last week to someone that has been a huge idea in my life in the last year or so and again it really challenged myself-"who you are now you will be tomorrow" yes, we can chage, but that statrts nowe. For me, i started thinking about my wife and kids, and I know I want to be in the word and loving god and hearing form Him each day and leading my household int het manner. If I cant do it here, will I then? So i shot up a simple honest prayer" God, I don't think I will get anything out of a Bible study each day, I dont want to set aside time jsut for You, but I am going to. I dont think I will like it, but maybe you can prove me wrong" That was five or more days ago, and since then, its been great. I am more alive each day, feelign better, hearing from God, and learning more. Each day, I have had scripture that I need or use later in the day. Its so cool the faithfulness of God is response to our honest broken prayers.

So a quick story to express this in real life-This week we are having talks on the holy spirit. Honestly, at first I was not feeling it much at all. I didn't like the speaker, thought he was biased and dumb. That morning I read a verse I didn't quite think much of at all, it was from Matthew 23 "But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ.[b] 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Really powerful for me at that moment, cuz I said another simple honest prayer" God, this guy is sorta dumb, and I am really shut off. I dotn want to be here. Please be my teacher, cuz this guy sux at teaching. Please show me things and help me hear you. amen. " Guess what? since then, lectures have been lively and direct each day. Of course there are still things i dont nagree with, but I am being taught by the holy Spirit, not the speaker. Its been really cool to let things relate to me, and hear from God during class.

On another ote, Friday night climbibg is going great. Last week we brought coffee and homemade cookies and muffins, and had some great conversations. Also, a group from our school brought some Saudi Arabian kids from the town square to climb, so it swas fun to just love 'em.

And finally, a quick peek into some thoughts in my brain..........

A lot of the stuff we learn and hear is real and true and good, but it should not be forced. If I am not ready to hear about the holy spirit, or forgive someone, that's ok! Just continue in the direction Of seeking God, and He will bring these things up and teach you when it is time. That is not to suppress things, and yes we need to be bold and takes steps of faith, but it should be the holy spirit pushing us not necessarily people.

The basic raw honest prayers are so important. I get this stupid idea in my head that if I pray them and God answers them, I am set for a while and I don't need to. so I will pray "God, Help me wake up in the morning refreshed, and help me want to be with you cuz I cant even want you alone" And yes He answers, but the I assume He will keep answering. SO i go a few weeks dry,and then come back to the realization that I need God, so bad, In everything.lIt is just good to know how weak i am without him, and remember how faithful He is to me when i nedd extra grace. seriously, I am pitiful. but He is enough for me

Also, Gods power is very real and important in our lives, and as are having Gody character, but we need to balance both. If we have for example great character, but none of His power in our life, we will dry up and be dull and boring! When the holy spirit came down on jesus at His baptism in the form of a dove, it gave a cool illustration of this. Doves have 9 flight feathers on each wing. the holy spirit has 9 fruits (characteristics) and 9 gifts mentioned in the NT( power of holy spirit in our lives) . without a balance of both power and character of the holy spirit in our lives, one area suffers. something to ponder i suppose...i think you can also overdo either of those areas so....

and fially, can anyone give me any insight on this scripture? i feel like it could be important cuz ikeep thinking about it, but dont know how to relate it quite yet. i am thinking it might have todo with my leg...

Exodus 13 17-18 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. [a] The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.

dunno any ideas?

I am goign to just go ahead and give you som eof the stuff goign through my mind as we

Nov 16 POST

2008-11-16T16:22:00.005+13:00

Hey all !

Well it's been a while since I wrote with much detail, so prepare for a juicy one.....

All is well on the Oxford YWAM grounds. The birds are chirping, the sun is shining through the hole in the ozone directly above us, the meatloaf is cooking, caleb is playing the drums with his ipod headphones on nice and loud, and we are all well and good, watering our relationships with each other and the good 'ol Lord Almighty.

*****************************************
Last week, our lecture topic was identity and calling presented by Patrick Dobson. I will say, this was by far my favorite week, and as one of my fellow students pointed out, "This week would have been worth all the money it took to come here". He really did a great job, and we all learned so much. The great the thing about last week is that all that we learned is very applicable and relatable to our lives.

Patrick is a hippy type guy with three kids who he home schooled. He says a community learning environment where teachers students and parents are healthily involved would be preferable, but current systems just don't work as well. He believes in raising his kids "according to their ways" as it says to in Proverbs. What this meant for him is letting his kids discover what they are passionate about and then helped them do that full fledge. He let them experiment with new things. The result? One kid recently worked on Halo 3 the video game, and the other played a big role in the making of 10,000 BC and Narnia movies. I was impressed but still a bit skeptical, so i was excited that his youngest son, levi, came to visit with him this week. He is fifteen, and to be honest, i was expecting a somewhat awkward and slightly socially retarded kid, never being in the public school. (all you home school readers, you are beautiful people and now i don't think you are social outcasts, i love you very much and think you are just real great, real great.) Now this is not to say he was not unique. HE did dress up as a clown and juggle, but he was awesome! A super humble kid, always helping with chores and dishes with a great attitude, fun to talk to, and very comfortable. A good testament for his Dad.

Patrick talked a lot about how in our day and age, we are so ready to go save the world, but a few things tend to happen:1- we get stuck in laziness/comfort 2- we are afraid to do what we are passionate about or be who we truly are and 3- we think that being a passionate christian means being youth pastor or missionary. I found a lot of what he said to be quite true. It was a lot of things we all know and think about, but maybe in our little Christian realm we kinda excuse. Things like voting democratic if it is right, questions like why are the best movies made by secular people and the christian music or shows often suck, and things like this. We discussed the importance of knowing your identity-who you are, what you love, and what you are good at. Much of his talks resonated with a paper i wrote last year titled "College, the worst best decision you can make". I discussed how college is great for those who know what they love and want to do in life and need a degree to get there, but for some many it defines what they want for them and our own passions and dreams are lost.

We also talked a lot about what God has created for us that gives us clues about how we ought to live. For example, in the old testament, it talks about what to do with someone who has touched a leper. It says to wash your hands with the water dripping off of leaves of a sycamore tree. At first we think ok weird old testament law. But really when we examine it a bit closer,we see that the sycamore leaf has a natural antiseptic o it that comes off when water is poured on it. All the laws and commands have purpose,we just often dont take time to see that. Really interesting. Makes us start to think why did God tell the Israelites not to mix cotton and wool, and will we obey that or wait till we know why we ought to.

HE also talked a bit how the term "God told me" or "I feel like GOd is saying" is grossly overused. Perhaps rather than God told me to go to NEw Zealand, I just really wanted to go to NEw Zealand cuz that is my character and that is how God made me. Perhaps "I feel like God wants me to build a camp" is just I want to build a camp , and that is a result of me seeking my identity and passion. Now this is not to say God does not speak, as He clearly does. Its just that the booming commands are maybe rarer than we tend think. God less quick to answer an actually quite lazy and non-creative question like "God what should I be and where should I go" and a lot more keen to be involved in our lives when our conversation is like" Father, i love climbing, and I love you. I love Boulder Colorado and I love people. I want to build a climbing school in Boulder. What is the first step I need to take in doing this in a manner that glorifies you and leads people to your truth. How can I acquire land to do this. What shall I teach here?" things such as these. Living your own life, utilizing the beautiful free will GOd gave you in a glorifying manner. Cuz you see when we are living our lives fully immersed in who we are in Christ, its fun, and we are doing waht we love and what GOd created us to love, and life is not quite so dull, and passion and energy and joy and love and peace and justice and healing and grace flows from Him through us. So many non-Christians are doing just this, cuz they know who they are, they just sometimes take credit for what is ultimately Gods creation and brilliance.

Now maybe at this point it sounds like i am being brainwashed to be a weird shepherd freak. In fact, no. Patrick was more in touch with society, ipods, culture, and trends than most people my age. He made statements like" There is no such thing as Christian Music and Non-Christian, only good music and bad music. He encouraged being who you are, and go fpr that passionately. We did some workshops where we just told each other who we are. For example, you are wise, you are fun, you are a good teacher, you are a leader, you are an athlete, you are a learner, you are an initiator, you are..... etc. We looked for connecting traits, and then began the long process of defining who we are and who we were made to be. He gave us a cool thing to do as well. He said write down a story of your life, all the details of ten years from now. Then do it again, and again, all different stories, different occupations, etc, and see what is common in all that. Really cool stuff. He was really into looking at and for the why and not the quick fix. On example that perhaps could sum up the whole week " DOn't just become a missionary and go hold babies in China and then get burnt out in ten years, and come back and live a normal life. Find out why there are babies in China, look at the why. Why is there poverty, why is the one child law in place, how can that change, whay is the sex trade even a market in Thailand. Don't just rescue prostitutes, cuz then there will be more. Figure out how to eliminate the market entirely. Of course hold babies, rescue prostitutes, build homes, but don't make that all you do. Figure out how your children's children won't have to hold babies or rescue people. Discover who you are and what you are good at, and then do that passionately, seeking God all the way and looking for what He has already revealed to us through nature and the Bible. Discover a need, seek how to meet the need, and then teach others to do the same." IT was quite a good week.

There is so much more to tell, as you can imagine. it was 3-4 hours a day plus outside class conversation, so this was just a snippit. Hopefully I will get a chance to share more about this topic when i get back, plus he gave us all the power points and presentations to keep(which were very well done!)

*******************************************************

AS far as outside of lectures, it was a sweet week as well. It was angels and mortals week. What that meant was we all drew someone else's name out of a hat, and they were our mortal for a week and we were their angel. It was all anonymous, and pretty much like a secret santa exchange on steroids. WE got candy, toys, gifts, songs, all sorts of cool things all week long. At the end of the week, we had a big fancy dinner, the love feast, (equivalent to thanksgiving dinner) where we all guessed who was our angel and it was revealed. It was really fun. I got candy all week, but I was a bit more creative towards my mortal. I wrote her a poem, made her a star shaped nutella sandwich, gave chocolate, a box of encouraging notes, made her a hand carved wall hanging from wood with eh engravings " Define yourself radically as one beloved by God" and " ecstasy and delight are essential to the believers soul", and for the end all, my partner in crime Adam on base put together a massive carnival for our angels with games, jugglers, toys, candy, magic tricks, carnival music, the whole getup. It was epic. And she didn't even know it was me! We also had a sweet humongo bonfire at this farmers land(same one i spent a few hours pruning roses for during work duties tuesday) and a dang hilarious talent show. Caleb adam and I improved a song with a guitar and cowbell.Fun stuff.....

This weekend my friends Adam and Caleb and myself decided to take some time away form the group, and so we stayed in Christchurch after climbing on friday. It was great to just relax off base. WE went to the botanical gardens and napped for, i dunno, five hours saturday, got ice cream, went to this amazing Asian restaurant (cheap though!) got ice cream, went to a museum Sunday, did some reading and writing, stayed in hostels. It was great, and this afternoon we caught a bus to rangiora and hitchhiked back and actually got picked up by one of the base staff. Really great.

*********************************************************

All this time here is making me realize a few things. For one, I have an amazing family. My parents are so incredible. Thank you both so much for allowing me to live life and be who I want, and for teaching me so many solid things though how you guys live your own lives. ITs sweet. Also, I have the two raddest brothers in the world. I really think Alex is probably the single coolest kid i know-super smart and intellectually fascinating, freaking attractive(duh) and a more humble servant than anyone i know. Its the greatest thing that he kinda has to hang out with my since i am his bro, cuz he is awesome. Joey is just the man, sorta a frank sinatra david beckham spiderman combo.Really emotionally aware and growing into a great guy. He is so cool! man, they're great. And of course my sister is the prettiest girl I know, and she is way smart and adventurous, crazy and caring. What a girl. I am so excited to be with my lovely lady again on day-Brooke is a incredible girl; super fun and spontaneous,adventurous smart, so beautiful, and truly an awesome woman of God, not to mention a nature loving hippy like myself, i learn so much from her. And of course the howards, you guys rock, thanks for being amazing people to me.
I am realizing what great friends i have too. All you guys are amazing- Reggie, Nick, DT, Howie, Stark, Kelso, Karly, ZW, Rybo, Fowler, tom, brandoin, Mr. Contraban of course, jordo, mark, there are so many more i would be here till Christmas, you know who you are- you guys are such a huge part of my life, i love you s much. man, i am not even ashamed to say it, i just, i wanna shout it form the rooftops! i love you, i love you so much, wow!

All that, hope you enjoyed, you guys are the best. Thank you for your prayers, you remain in mine.

Update for early November

2008-11-07T23:21:00.004+13:00

Man. Its been really good here. We are all learning so much. I really feel like so much of what we are learning is being absorbed into us and is kinda hard to put into tangible thoughts, but just re-affirming a lot of ideas, forming some new ones, and truly enjoying the stillness. I have a good amount of time to just simply be, which is so incredibly good for me. Its hard though, I have to actually be proactive about being still. I am sure you can relate, but I didn't think I would have to actually try to do that here. Just goes to show, who you are is who you are; NZ or USA, I am me. Don't know why I have to re-learn that one so often, but at least I know it as of now.

Its really good though. The speakers are are so versed in their own topics. This week was the Father heart of God. Again, and not necessarily as a result of the spekaer or topic, I am re-learning the significance of simply being with God. No praying, singing, thinking, just sitting and being me with Him. Its great.

Interesting the things that distract us or turn us off from God. He is real, I think most of us can agree in that little detial. But then there are so many other little details: Is my relationship genuine, am I being too Christiany, how big a role does God/spiritual stuff play, Does He care that much, What about old testament God, holistic healing, new age ideas, cool poeple who hate God...all these things that we sorta put in between the fact the truth of His Existence and His sons death ans resurection. Indeed it mau be important to knweo where we stand on these issues personally, but it seems so easy to make that more significant than Christ and His love for us. Interesting stuff.

All that said,want to encourage you and very much myself, to pursue Him in our own lives, love Him and let ourselves be loved by Him. The rest will fall into play, there is not much more important in life than our relationship with our maker.

it snowed today

New post- 10/28/08

2008-10-28T17:44:00.004+13:00

Well hello everyone.....

there is so much to tell about last week. We will start with this weekend and work backwards..

Me and three guys stayed back form hiking in Louis pass to judge a local skate comp. It got cancelled, but thats okay cuz it opened up time for us and four others to drive out to Kaikoura to the beach. We had a truly epic time: rain all night, frigid Ocean temperatures, angry seals, juSt really great. We body boarded the first night and the next morning. I havent been so cold in a long time, but still great. we also had fish and chips in town, and a campfire where we listended to our german friend Janina sing in her native tongue. quite funny. WE checked out somE SEALS on the beach, and I had a growl off with one. way scarier than you might expect, they are ferocious, intimdating creatures. WE then trekked up this mountian trial into an oasis heaven-like pool with a massive waterfall flowing into it. much to our surprise, there were baby seals frolicking up in the hills and freshwater. it was amazing, i cant even describe the surreal nature of what was going on. They were doign tricks and waving to us and everything, amazing. So that was the weekened...

This last week we had a speaker named mark parker. he is extremely eccentric and the exact style of speaking i hate...loud, yelling, jumping aorund madness. But you know, it worked. It was not aggressive, but rather personal excitement and style for the topic, and none of what he was saying was his opinion. It was all extremly biblical based. It was a deeper look at a lot of the views and beliefs i have, and it was good to rediscover why i beleive what I do. here are some key points and cool revelations i had :

-we are all in Christ, connected and held together by Him (Acts 17)
-a greater miracle than someone being saved is someone walking in the fullness of Christ here and now. so many trust God for their eternal lives, but want to handle this one on their own....
-Lordship is knowing Jesus and a heart like His
-there is nothing new under the sun, Jesus already saved the World, we just need to resurrect that truth!
-Christianity is a revelaed religion, as you walk it, you learn it
-gift of salvation is you stop living for yourself and start thinking about others
-the world is meant to be fun and enjoyable, but as soon as you let go of daddys hand in disneyworld it becomes a terrorfying place
-whatever meets your need for love will control you

these are a few, but it was deep and great

Friday was an amazing day. WE spent all day worshipping and goign into the holy of holies...contrasting how we do itwith how the old testament times would have. very bery neat, a lot of confession, repenting, praise, thanksgioving, worship, prophecy, jsut really neat stuff being in the presence of God. We took communion, and what a feast it was....chocolate, guacamole, cake, banana bread, soda, juice, cookies, everything! communion used to be a communial time together around a meal, and so it was.

if you feel like you may have missed something, please read the old blogs, i post them about once a week or more.

10-20 @ 5:37 pm

2008-10-20T17:30:00.003+13:00

Hello all.

check my facebook if you want for pics, i cant put them on here form the base...sry!!!

There is so much going on here it is hard to keep it updated! First, i want to say again thank you all so much for all your support, financial, prayer, everything. you have enabled me to be here and it as amazing. i am learning and growing so much its incredible.

i am very much growing onto who I am going to be forever. of course i will always be changing and learning and growing and such, but this is sculpting me a lot. i am learning so much, MAN! the lectures are so packed full of good wisdom and insight from wiser people its crazy. more than that, i am learning so much through just plain life, or course. the people here, my fellow students are teaching me tons and all the down time to think and read and learn is great too. I am learning so much about how the world looks for and at spirituality, and reaffirming the significance of Christs love for us. so many people in the world are looking, longing, craving His love, they just have an inaccurate name or false idea tacked on it. today, we talked about how we aren't bringing GOd anywhere, He is everywhere! he is in the mosques, the temples, the brothels.

Very importantly i am am learning also THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. no new ideas or truths. its all about revealing and resurrecting the age old truths and bringing them into the light. more and more i find it so true and important for me not to judge anything or anyone in anyway, but to simply point them towards the truth of life in Christs love. it was Brennan Manning who said
"it is in the presence of God you discover the beauty of living and being loved by grace not performance"
and of course CS lewis clarity's
"the church exists for nothing else than to draw men into Christ and make them into little Christs. if they are not doing that then all the cathedrals, clergies, missions, sermons, and even the bible itself are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose" (see John 5:39-40)

the beauty of salvation is being set free from selfishness and being capable and desiring love for other people int he same way Christ has it. WE are to to imitators of His love and that is made perfectly capable through Him in us. its great.

its amazing guys, i wish you could be here to leanr it all with me.

i went to lunch with a family form churhc yesterday, going to Arthur's pass this weekend to trek into the hills, climbing Friday, reading and loving and listening all week. its awesome, thank you all so much for enabling me to be on this adventure. i continue to pray that through all this your relationship with him may be strengthened, He is great, its not just hocus pocus mind games, Christ is real.

2008-10-19T10:35:00.002+13:00

Well hellooo family and freinds.....

Its going awesome here. I am getting really close to a lot of people, and learning all sorts of new perspectives. There are so many stories from people, different lifestyles, its great.

climbing in town was good, got a few numbers and loved on some people. it was good, justplanting seeds and living by example, letting peopel see our passion and joy and love.

yesterday we went kayaking south of Christchurch in the ocean. it was awesome, but cold. of course we went swimming as well. The guys i hang with are very individual. its fun, we are crazy together, running into the friged sea screaming and splashing, ahhh good times.

WE got our outreach options this week and had to narrow our choice to three. i chose four, hehe. I chose 1-Climbing outreach in NZ 2-Thailand 3-trekking in NZ/Australia. its been good just kinda living and letting myself be loved by God and loving Him and kinda listening to Him, seeking Him, reading His word, but not overspiritulaizing anything. I spend some time with him in the morning, sometimes writing, sometimes playing guitar, sometimes reading, sometimes just being quiet. its great, and I am learning a lot about just being with Him and not doing anything, living my life and letting Him work through love, its awesome.

Goign to church todayand out to lunch at a familys house, looking forward to the foood! other t han that, its great, i am reading a lot of books, jsut findinehd one this week, in themiddle of two and starting another today, so its sweet. only oneis reqquired, but i am digging keeping the content diverse. it isnt all easy here though. i am realizing even on this relaxing time, there is still pain, still hurt and anger and injustice. i am jsut leanring a lot about how to livwe amoung all this. been reading a lot of Ecclesiastes and taking solomons advice: eat, drink, and enjoy the pleasures of youth! and most of all , fear God, Love God, Obey God.

adios for now, more coming! thank you for your prayers, i AM praying for you, i hope your relationship with Christ is being strengthened through all, there is nothign more importnat than you and God and understanding his depth of love for you, the rest comes from that.

love you guys

just in case you missed these updates on the last posting......i added them on late......

YO thought i would give you a quick update....going into Christchurch for Friday night outreach tonight. I am on the climbing team, we climb and love people and live our life just as we would, spreading the love.Today, our speakers for the week left, but my small group got them a token of appreciation, in the native mauri culture it is called a poraporauki (?) - thank you....we planted an aok tree and hand carved a plaque in their honor.today, they had us take our empty packs and walk up to an overlook. it was symbolizing getting cleared out of any past conceptions or ideas of our faith or anything like that, and making room to learn and grow in new ways and understandings. it was sweet, and we prayed and talked up top with the guys. very cool.gotta go pack for climbing, making pb and j for dinner. love you all. your payers hep so much, truly truly.AS of 10-15 2:45 pmI feel like not everyone has read the last update, so this is going to be a brief one tagged on so people can read the last one as well.....This week, we have lecturers from Canada and Australia. Our focus is reaching backpackers. It is cool to learn about the audience we are being trained to reach with the Gospel. It is a very unique ministry, but there are tons of backpackers all over the world, and a good percentage of them are searching for something;themselves, spiritual truth, etc. Backpackers as the world knows them are travelers, slightly differnet than the American idea, but still sweet. it is a big unreached group and are 500, 000 in New Zealand each year alone. As we are being taught, we are learning our task is very much just planting seeds in people. We are not necessarily going to be seeing a ton of people come to Christ, but rather being examples of His love to those who are searching for answers, have been mistreated by Christians in the past, or whatever the case. WE are going to be doing this by means of hospitality, engaging in activities with them(climbing, cooking, mountaineering etc.), all sorts of stuff we are learning. More on that later, but know that my ministry over the next 5 months is very love based, ultimately seeking to help people know Jesus. I will be putting our mission statement up soon.I am learning a lot though, in my own personal studies. There seem to be so many Denominations, so many ideas and beliefs about little details of Christian Faith, its so ridiculous. People are won and lost, wars fought, and churches split over issues that eternally don't matter. I have come to this Conclusion: there is one final truth, only one absolute destination, one thing i know is true- that is that God is real, He created me, and His son Came to this Earth and Died for my salvation in Him. There are so many paths and ideas between this truth, and absolute atheism, and everything in between, that to argue the little things is just insignificant. Indeed yes, there are truths to Buddhism, Islam, even atheism. Ideas of peace, love, common good, meditation, a higher power, all these may be true. My hope is that all these paths are just a way people will come to know that Jesus is Lord and Savior. although I may not agree with all these ideas and beliefs, it is not my place to tell people they are wrong. Now, I am not saying all religions are the same, that its just one God after all with different names, and we are all cool, man, peace bro. No no. I am saying that each persons path to learning the truth about Christ is vastly different, and although I do not believe in all of the ways of a Buddhist, the recognition of a higher power is a small step towards salvation that i Can only pray they will find in Christ, as that is the only Absolute truth i know, Him on the cross. All the rest is seeming meaningless, for even an argument on abortion or gay marriage, though i may know where I stand firmly, is not not worth risking a hardened perspective towards the absolute truth i know is true. Disagree gently with love. do you catch my drift?anyway, I am working on that absolute truth, perfecting the simple statement of faith in Jesus, so I can hold onto and run towards that, holding the rest in my life as what i believe to be true, but perhaps insignificant on an eternal scale. After all, it was Jesus that said "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. " John 5:39-40
Anyway learning a lot and perfecting some beliefs. love and miss you all.

New Update as of 2pm 10-10

2008-10-10T13:54:00.006+13:00

YO thought i would give you a quick update....

going into Christchurch for Friday night outreach tonight. I am on the climbing team, we climb and love people and live our life just as we would, spreading the love.

Today, our speakers for the week left, but my small group got them a token of appreciation, in the native mauri culture it is called a poraporauki (?) - thank you....we planted an aok tree and hand carved a plaque in their honor.

today, they had us take our empty packs and walk up to an overlook. it was symbolizing getting cleared out of any past conceptions or ideas of our faith or anything like that, and making room to learn and grow in new ways and understandings. it was sweet, and we prayed and talked up top with the guys. very cool.
gotta go pack for climbing, making pb and j for dinner. love you all. your payers hep so much, truly truly.

AS of 10-15 2:45 pm
I feel like not everyone has read the last update, so this is going to be a brief one tagged on so people can read the last one as well.....

This week, we have lecturers from Canada and Australia. Our focus is reaching backpackers. It is cool to learn about the audience we are being trained to reach with the Gospel. It is a very unique ministry, but there are tons of backpackers all over the world, and a good percentage of them are searching for something;themselves, spiritual truth, etc. Backpackers as the world knows them are travelers, slightly differnet than the American idea, but still sweet. it is a big unreached group and are 500, 000 in New Zealand each year alone. As we are being taught, we are learning our task is very much just planting seeds in people. We are not necessarily going to be seeing a ton of people come to Christ, but rather being examples of His love to those who are searching for answers, have been mistreated by Christians in the past, or whatever the case. WE are going to be doing this by means of hospitality, engaging in activities with them(climbing, cooking, mountaineering etc.), all sorts of stuff we are learning. More on that later, but know that my ministry over the next 5 months is very love based, ultimately seeking to help people know Jesus. I will be putting our mission statement up soon.

I am learning a lot though, in my own personal studies. There seem to be so many Denominations, so many ideas and beliefs about little details of Christian Faith, its so ridiculous. People are won and lost, wars fought, and churches split over issues that eternally don't matter. I have come to this Conclusion: there is one final truth, only one absolute destination, one thing i know is true- that is that God is real, He created me, and His son Came to this Earth and Died for my salvation in Him. There are so many paths and ideas between this truth, and absolute atheism, and everything in between, that to argue the little things is just insignificant. Indeed yes, there are truths to Buddhism, Islam, even atheism. Ideas of peace, love, common good, meditation, a higher power, all these may be true. My hope is that all these paths are just a way people will come to know that Jesus is Lord and Savior. although I may not agree with all these ideas and beliefs, it is not my place to tell people they are wrong. Now, I am not saying all religions are the same, that its just one God after all with different names, and we are all cool, man, peace bro. No no. I am saying that each persons path to learning the truth about Christ is vastly different, and although I do not believe in all of the ways of a Buddhist, the recognition of a higher power is a small step towards salvation that i Can only pray they will find in Christ, as that is the only Absolute truth i know, Him on the cross. All the rest is seeming meaningless, for even an argument on abortion or gay marriage, though i may know where I stand firmly, is not not worth risking a hardened perspective towards the absolute truth i know is true. Disagree gently with love. do you catch my drift?

anyway, I am working on that absolute truth, perfecting the simple statement of faith in Jesus, so I can hold onto and run towards that, holding the rest in my life as what i believe to be true, but perhaps insignificant on an eternal scale. After all, it was Jesus that said "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. " John 5:39-40

Anyway learning a lot and perfecting some beliefs. love and miss you all.

Well its been a week since I arrived. All is going great.

My team is amazing. There is a lot of diversity among us; some kids from Finland, Holland, china, Korea, Hawaii, all over! There are a lot of cool stories already. I really feel safe and like a family here.

We have had a lecture or two each day since Monday. It has been the base leaders so far, the real lecturers come in next week. We learned about worship, The Body of Christ, Intercession(which just means praying for people or things that aren't or dont pray for themselves, hence interceding for them, ie. non Christians, children born into brothels, etc.) its been good, there is a lot of wisdom around here.

We also worship a lot. its so sweet. its just really simple, no structured prayer/singing/drums/silence/whatever towards God. It is great having time each day to just be with Him and others seeking Him.

The food is all home cooked and Delicious. I eat and consequently fart a lot. Today we had rice with stir fry veggies and chicken,. last night homemade meatloaf, before that fish n chips (which is huge here) its all very good. We have fruit or anytime toast whenever we want-bananas, kiwis, oranges and apples, and toast with jam, butter, peanut butter things like that.

WE got some free time in the afternoon. I rode my bike with some Friends to Ashley's Gorge. Its like a huge river that just dumps out of the mountains through this valley, very pretty, lots of river rock.

Yesterday, we had work duties and were chopping down some huge trees and came across a fun man-driven idea. We tied a huge rope to the top of a tree about 35 feet up, and one person held onto it at the base. 5 or more guys grabbed the end of the rope about 30 feet from the base of the tree and ran the other direction, sending the person holding the rope flying into the air. It was awesome. unfortunately there was some slack and I ran faster than the kids pulling me, so the rope whipped out of my hands and i was sent flying into a tree. It hurt, and I am limping around now like a pathetic dog or something. It was very, very, funny, you will see video eventually. I will be fine, just a bruise and totally worth the times i did it right. And no mom, i am not gonna go get it checked out ant the Doc, it will be better by monday.

anyway, you can imagine the fun we have around her. Its sweet being surrounded by people who want to learn about God, seek Him, not just people who know they should. Its very genuine, and very hilarious all the time. This kid form Holland wont stop telling pirated jokes ever since we introduced him to them. He is not too good at it either. He will say like" What is a pirates favorite movie? AAAARRRRrachnophobia!!" its hilarious with his accent and poor wit. So dang funny. man.

Well i love you guys a lot. thank you for your prayers. I have been praying for you. Truly I have, last night spent some time in the prayer room, and yesterday with a group we prayed for everyone who was praying for me. Thank you very much for all your support, keep commenting i love it!

LOVE LOVE BOBBY

ps-pictures will come when i fugure out how to download them better, we have limited bandwidth here!

Address FYI

Bobby Mikulas

c/o YWAM Oxford

14 Church Street

Oxford, North Canterbury 7430

New Zealand

new update 10-1 8 :20 pm in New Zealand

2008-10-01T20:16:00.005+13:00

AS OF SATURDAY OCTOBER 4th 12:15 pm

Hello!!
first off, I am safe and sound at the YWAM base in oxford New Zealand.

There is so much to tell you guys, i don't even know where to start. I have pages and pages of journaling already, so I am just going to fill you in on a little bit....

I arrived in Auckland at 7 am or so Wednesday. From here, i took a bus straight out of Auckland to nearby manukua city. Right away i noticed the difference in people. I gave the bus driver a bill and she gave me change for my ticket. i said "wo! i like that, in the US if you don't have exact change its too bad!" the driver replied by saying " o well here, if we don't have change to give we just let you on for free!" they really are super di duper di nice.

I got dropped of and walked across the motorway bridge to the on ramp of highway 1, and stuck my thumb out holding a sign that simply said "south". about 30-40 mins later, and Iraqi car mechanic picked me up. in the car he said "we are at war and I am helping you out!" he was really nice, and took me an extra exit pasted where he was going to a better hitching spot "just because I was Christian", as he was too.

from the gas station he left me at i got a ride from the second car that passed, it took about 3 mins. I was on my way south with a nice guy who was heading down to his work. really nice guy.

he left me at the beginning of a small town, and i bought some broccoli and an apple at a fruit stand. got picked up about 40 mins later form this wierd guy with no shoes who brought me to the edge of town. he was cool

here, i got picked up by a kid about my age. he is a beat boxer and extreme walker, interning for his Church this year and teaching life skills to kids who need it. his name is Andre Harris (CHECK HIM OUT ON YOU TUBE!) he brought me to his town of Mt. Maunganui on the east coast. he bought me lunch in a town before his though, a "turkish" (like a gyro, lamb, carrots, veggies, sauce. ) prices are way higher here. i got dropped off outside of his town and picked up in about 15 minutes.

this guy Richard I was with now took me all the way to Turangi at the south end of lake taupo. he was very interesting, and taught me a lot about the island, the people , and the vegetation. he was on his way to the mtns with to meet his family for the school holiday(week long break)

i spent the night in a backpackers hostel that had a climbing wall in turangi. i did some climbing and had tea and read a book by the fireplace, it was pretty cold outside, and it was so nice. it was a really awesome time, i was really thankful for everything. i ran across the way to a gas station and bought spaghetti and cooked it with an onion i found and some garlic for dinner. had some nuts and granola for breakfast about 8 and i was out on the road again.

I got picked up by a Mauri kid, age 22 (mauri are the native people) he took me all the way to Palmerston North. I learned a lot about mauri culture, and heard some if his music. he and his sister and bro make hip hop music, it was really good. one of his tries was rubbing cuz he had his car lowered, and the metal in the tire was showing through, so we decided to fix it. he stopped at a random yard that had a lot of cars in int. we hopped the fence, and started opening trunks looking for a spare that fit and some tools. after about 30 mins of rummaging around for stuff, we found all we needed, changed the tire, and we were on our way. i felt really comfortable with him. he had a good spirit, although he had been to jail for hitting a cop over weed and 50,000 dollars in speeding tickets as he used to run from the cops. to say like cool, or rad, he said "too much" interesting ride, but and experience none the less!

got a pretty short ride form a dude who paints lines on the road and has for 18 yrs.

I got dropped off and a kid from new Plymouth on the west coast picked me up. he was on his way to "Uni" (college) in Wellington, and ended up dropping me off right at the ferry. he was awesome, and i could see myself being good Friends with him in real life. He snowboards and loves nature. I think I may have convinced him to come to boulder, and he might come visit next summer.

i got to the ferry about 1"15, but the 2:00 ferry was already sold out so i had to catch the 8:00. I spent the extra time in wellington. I walked into town, and walked all over for about 4 hours (luckilly the ferry checked my big pack) I saw a lot of shops, the bay, and bought a passion fruit apricot homemade muffin. I walked back and caught the 8 o clock. it was so nice! like a cruise. it was a 3 hour ride, and i hadn't had much to eat that day so i bought a butter-chicken and rice dish,. it was big and filled me up.

got off the ferry around 11:30 and walked for about 45 minutes the the outside of town. tried to hitch a little on the way out, but nothing. I slept on the side of the road at the edge of Picton in some soft grass. I slept really really well, only got up once to pee. Woke up around 7:30 or so

Hitched at 8:00 for about 30 min and got picked up by another AWESOME guy. he was on his way down to a small Small town called Seddon to work at an oyster farm. he worked that 4 days and a dairy farm 3. He was awesome, really nice, and we shared a lot of the same ideas, like needing dirt on your hands to be healthy, and not getting sick just by making the decision not to. he told me a lot about NZ, and said he will never leave and never has been off the island, said it had to much to offer him. he was really neat, i look up to his cheery spirit and simple lifestyle (by choice) a lot. he dropped me on the side of a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere and said "God be with ya".

Here, after a morning workout (in between cars )of crunches, push ups, some sprints and some jogging, i got picked up after about 90 mins of hitching by a lady (age 28) and her 7 yr old son. she was really nice, and was headed down to Christchurch. she said she was getting annoyed by the line of cars she was in so she decided to stop, and said she was used to stopping for hitchers as she does it a lot on the way up form Christchurch to her new home town of Blenheim. she grew up in Christchurch though, and was going with er son for the holiday to see her family. we stopped at their favorite bakery, and at the beach twice, and at the river to play. it was so fun and so beautiful , i love that drive on hwy 1 down the coast. we talked about a lot, and she was really nice. she dropped me in Woodend so i could catch hwy 72 out to Oxford.

I caught 2 quick rides one from woodend to Rangiora, walked about an hour to the end of town, and then a ride to Oxford. the last lady i rode with offered to let me stay at he family's house in case YWAM staff wasn't there since i was 2 days early. she happened to live about 50 yards away form YWM base. She gave me a tour of the town her home, and offered me her own bed after she washed the sheets. also said i could eat whatever I wanted. she aid she does this a lot, to help kids get back on their feet or whatever. she had 7 kids. her outlook on it all reminded me of my mom. she was awesome.

Turns out the YWAM staff as well as some other students were there, so i moved into my new home for the next three months.

After a tour of the base, unpacking, and dinner, i packed up my pack and rode a base bike to mt. oxford trail head. I hiked up about 1/2 way (maybe 2-3 miles) and camped. it was incredibly windy all night. when it did stop, it was for about 10 seconds, and the stillness was enough to wake me up. I could hear it coming though, and it sounded like an airplane of flash flood ripping though the trees.

I packed up in the morn and decided to head down cuz the wind was absolutely ridiculous. i decided to try to summit though. i made it almost all the way to the top, but the last 1/2 mile or so is not in the trees, and i was to exposed. the wind literally lifted me up off my feet twice. no joke. i had to fall down and hold onto bushes a few time to keep from being blown away cuz once i lost my step it just carried me. it was absolutely insane. coincidently, i truend back. once in the trees is was nice, but loud. there were tons of fallen trees that werent there the day before, and sticks covered the path. i stood at the base of about a 20 inch diameter tree that was in the process of being uprooted and got lifted off the ground by the dirt around the base of the tree 2-3 feet and then down again.

Rode my bike back and got to the base about 11. Showered, and here we are......

its been crazy so far, but so perfect. everything has worked out beautifully, and i am really learning so so so so so much. i am learning a lot about my faith and myself.

Please keep praying! i have been praying for all of you guys, truly. you all rock, and being away makes me realize even more how blessed I am cuz you guys are the greatest people in the world.

-BOBBY!

updates.. 9/20---10/5

2008-09-25T06:18:00.008+12:00

as of 9-28 at 10 30 pm
Been hanging with alex. its been really fun. We went out to breakfast today, played tennis, talked, dinner. its fun just being with him, he is such a rad guy. the people in Portland are interesting. i feel like everyone is trying to be different and in doing so they are all the same kind of different. it is neat though, and i really like the people here, especially the ones who are genuinely who they are, at home here, not tyring to be at home here. kinda hard to explain, but its different, i like it.
i am learning a lot being alone so much and looking forward to more of it. i feel like
God is my friend, just being with me and it is resulting in a lot of un-intentional prayer, which is cool. I am also finding myself being un-intentionally thankful for things i never appreciated, like walking, water, clothes, a bunch of stuff. I noticed that a lot of this comes as a result of seeing people who dont have some of the things to be thankful for that i do. I wish i could get to the point of being thankful whiteout having to compare myself to to others to realize how blessed I am, but perhaps that will come. till then, its nice being genuinely super duper excited about my blessings.
me and alex were playing with those parachute leaves today-man, its incredible to watch them.
i really like ales, he is rad.

tomorrow i leave at 750 for the light bus to light rail to airport, flight at 1100 into LA, then connecting flight at 9 pm. gonna hang with my buddy brandon hoogie in between, then hitchiking time. probly gonna tyr to catch abs outa town then woo hoooo!!!

"

as of midnight friday night the 26th.
crazy day. got up early and caught bus to downtown and transferred to airport bus. couldn't find it for like and hour, and had mad explosive diarrhea but a homless guy helped me outcuz it was wrong.t, and comforted my poor wilderness soul trying tio survive in the city after i tripped flat on my face getting off the bus i got on. i made my flight luckally. took a shuttle from the Vancouver airport to trinity western. it was cool, ate lunch and met soccer coaches and played with the team. the surrounding mtns are so rad, mt baker looks cool and the mountinas have skiing and kiking wihtin 45 mins..not that that sways me....... the university is cool , you can customize a major which is neato. poeple were cool too, so well see. as of now, i am thinking maybe 1 more semester at boulder to try out communications and bring up my gpa above a 3.0 from the 9.93 it is now, then all kinds of scholarships are there for me. well see, gotta listen and see what God has in store, however you do that.... thanks for your commments and prayers, you guys rock

iots been awesome trustin gGod, He os coming thrugh in neat wasy, cuz I didnt really have any meals or shleter or transport planned and its allll gooood, woo hoo God.

Talked to a indian guy named ballian ont he plane to portland tonight for a long time, it was fun he was neat, a chainsaw engineer. g

goodnight.

Seattle Pacific and Northwest colleges today. Northwest was too small for me, too quiet. I love Seattle Pacific. It is intentional about reaching the community, branching out, and engaging in culture. There is no statement of faith requirement which is sweet cuz the campus is diverse. the students and faculty are awesome and the body is alive. I like the majors and my credits count here for 1.5. Its cool, but we will see, Trinity Tomorrow.

I am learning:
-uncertainty in my life requires faith in Gods plan
-to be thankful for the little things, like walking and water
-my life in Chirst will not and is not easy
-the devil does not give up after one prayer

Just fyi, the week has looked like this..

Sunday:Fly to Portland -bus to Salem-Sleep at Corban College
Monday:Visit Corban, Play Soccer, Sleep here again
Tuesday:Gerge Fox student pickes me up, visit GF, Bus to Portland, -sleep with alex in his dorm at Lewis and CLark College
Wednesday:up at 5:30 fly to spokane, visit gonzaga and whitworjht and meet coaches, sleep at whitworth
Thursday:up at 5:20 fly to seattle, visit northwest universtiy and Seattle Pacific U. Sleep at At Seattle Pac
Friday:up at 5, fly to Vancouver, visit Trinity Western fly to portland at 9pm.Sleep with alex
SAT/SUN-visit Alex
Monday_up early, fly to LA, 10 hr layover, 9pm fly to Auckland
Wed-Sunday(lose a day flying) Hitchike to Christchurch

as of 11:18 Wednesday....... I am at whitworth now. George fox was pretty cool, i like the coach. the travel is exhausting already, but I am learning a lot. finding its so important top be aware of the war at hand with evil that i sometimes forget about. stupid devil. all is good though, and God is my Friend and comforter. looking forward to lunch here and class with a favorite professor. sleeping here tonight, more later

Currently........ as of 7:35 Monday the 22nd
In Salem visiting COrban, all well so far. Flight and bus ride awesome. really enjoying the solitude and just being frineds with God. Soccer good today, but hard(conditioning practice!) Learning now that living Righteous and blameless is having spiritual and moral integrity and merging faith in God with obeying His commands, it is NOT sinlessness. (Psalm 15:2 and Proverbs 2:7) Trying to identify myself as His loved son and not anything else

Update

2008-09-18T04:10:00.004+12:00

Hello everyone.

Well I head out this Sunday, four days from now. I am gering very very excited. Every time I head out in the woods alone to be quiet an still and just connect with myself and rediscover who I am as beloved by Him, I remember how perfect this trip is for me right now.

The next few days are all packing and preparing. Please keep me in your prayers as I head out. I am visiting a few colleges and seeing my brother in Portland as a pit stop before I actually leave the country. I am goign to be trying out for soccer for 7 different school in Newman, Portland, Salem, Spokane, Seattle, and Vancouver. I will be sleeping in 13 different cities in two weeks starting Saturday Night! Fun and exciting.

Please stay posted with my trip, I will be updating this blog as often as I can while in NZ. Thank you all for the awesomeness you are. The adventure begins.......

Bobby

Some sweet pics you might enjoy

2008-09-03T04:48:00.013+12:00

Pardon my frusteration

2008-09-02T17:48:00.005+12:00

Dream. Please, please, remember what it was like to dream without boundries. Be a kid again, DREAM!!!! Pray Boldly, He is real! Find passion, its there. Live! Breathe Deep and feel! Feel! You are a creation, intentional and beautifully, wonderfully, fearfully made. Walk barefoot, write your thoughts, do something scary. Live, please, stop the epidemic of laziness. We are created to live feircely. Please, please............this generation is losing touch with our excitement for life, for our longing for adventure, we are losing touch of who we are created to be.

Matthew 18:3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Ecclesiastes 12:5 when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets.

Blog #1: The first stages in a nutshell, or a kiwi, um, skin

2008-08-23T07:04:00.016+12:00

Hello friends!
Thanks for taking some time to visit this page and see what is going on in my life. I am still learning the blog thing, so bear with me....

As you probably know, I am off to New Zealand this coming September twenty fourth. I will be stopping in Portland for a few days to see my brother Alex at Lewis and Clark College, then its off to LA. From there I fly straight into Auckland New Zealand. I arrive the 1st of October, and lose a whole day flying. Auckland is on the North Island of New Zealand, and my school is on the south Island. I have 4 days to make it all the way down to Oxford ( a town outside of Christchurch). I am going to be doing this by means of.... Hitchhiking! The culture is NZ is pretty different, and this is a lot safer down there. But still , keep all my travels in your prayers. I decided to start the trip off with my own mini adventure. Its going to be great to have to fully rely on the Lord for everythng...food, shelter, transport. But He is faithful , and I trust He has a plan for me and people for me to meet!

Just so you have an idea, here is what the next three months are going to look like, as far as I know now:

Monday -Friday

-Wake up at 6 am. ( I want to get a run in a couple times a week, there is a sweet mountain trial right next to where I am staying)

-Breakfast around 7

-Prayer and Devotion from 730-830.

-chores at 9

-Prayer and worship/intercession at 9

-lectures from 10-12 (Lecturers are going to be flying in from all or the world, a new one each weak teaching a different topic)

-Lunch/break from 12-3

-lecture till 5

-dinner/free till 8

-worship till 9

-bed/free

On Fridays, we will be doing one of three outreach ministries: Skatepark, Rock climbing wall, or homeless ministry, all in Christchurch. Weekends are free, but there is an optional activity, such as surfing, camping, climbing, etc.

We are required to read and report on at least three books over the months, and required to keep a journal of notes from lectures and a personal journal.

More coming later, stay posted, I will try to update as much as I can until I leave and some for sure in NZ. Heaera ya!

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