Separate But Not Far

So this past week I had almost no contact with the outside world.

My job of working with Group Mission Trips as a red shirt summer staff has taken me many cool places; Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park, a cross country journey across 9 states, the arch in St. Louis, the Carolinas, and even Niagara Falls yesterday, but it has also taken me places that are just a blip on the map. Last week my crew and I were running a camp in a small town of Seth, West Virginia, about an hour west of the captial of Charleston. We were deep in the Appalachian Mountains where we soon found out that there was absolutely no cell service or internet, all we had was one landline that worked part of the time and spotty wifi for our email for work that would kick us off every 20 minutes. Now you're probably thinking, how did I ever survive without my social media, without my texting, without calling anyone.....well I did, and this isn't the first time I have lived in isolation from the  world. I actually survived for longer this summer without everything, when I was in Alaska for two weeks. It may be hard, but I recommend it to everyone to try!

Whether we know it or not, we are all connected by our phones or by technology in general; we talk with everyone instantly through email, phone call, or texting, we can share our photos of our experiences in a blink of an eye with Facebook and Instagram, and we can look up absolutely anything that we want to with easy access to the internet. So how is it that if we are all so connected with the use of the internet, that we aren't actually connected at all? I've seen people be on their phones while their friends are sitting right next to them, and instead of holding a conversation with each other, they are playing a game, checking facebook, or texting someone who isn't even there. We are all guilty , my self included, or turning to our phone or plugging into our music when the silence makes us feel awkward, or makes us feel like we need to be doing something. We need to constantly be doing something, but not always the right thing.

When I was in Alaska for two weeks, Sean, one of the FOCUS missionaries on the trip said this, "We are afraid of silence, but why? We are afraid of silence because we are afraid of what we are going to hear" God didn't always speak in the big events in life, 1 Kings 19:11-12 where God tells Elijah to go and stand on the mountain and the Lord will pass by.
"There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord--but the Lord was not in the wind, after the wind an earthquake---but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, fire--but the Lord was not in the fire, after the fire, a light silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in the cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of a cave"
We need silence in our lives, and the best way to start is by not being surrounded by technology, not being surrounded by our phones and by social media, and by texting people all the time. While it isn't all bad, it is good to get away, and when we get away, we may find ourselves in some of the  coolest places, or meet some of the coolest people.

In Alaska I was incredibly blessed to be surrounded by the locals and to have them show our group their land, their state. While we were there for them, to bring love, joy, and God into their lives, they were there for us. They shared their food with us; fish, claims, seaweed, and they shared their land with us; hiking, fishing, canoeing, boating, surfing, and exploring. We shared our lives with each other, fully submerging into the culture of the true native Alaskan and native Klinght people.
In West Virginia I was able to not only serve the community but also meet and talk with many of my staff and the campers as well. I met a girl named Emily who went to a rival high school or mine, plays goalie in lacrosse, and is going to CNU, a rival college of mine where she will be playing lacrosse there. At the end of camp she wrote me a note which said that throughout the week she really enjoyed talking with me and although she has been on multiple camps, this is the first one where she has really connected with a staff memeber and now really wants to become a staff herself in the next year or so. I was also able to connect with one of the residents that the campers served named Kimberly. Kimberly lives with her husband in Seth and is Deaf. I found out from one of the campers that she speaks American Sign Language so I was happy that I would be able to go and visit and communicate with her. I was blessed to go on Thursday where I stood and signed with her for about an hour. I then got to see her again on Friday night at our program, where all the locals are invited to join in and celebrate what God has done througout the week in the community. I again got to talk with her and found out that her husband doesn't know ASL and there really isn't anyone else in the  town who does, so she has to lip read most of the time when talking with someone, which is really hard for her. She was excited to finally be able to sign with someone for the first time in several years.

Being disconnected and living in social silence can be very rough, but pulling away and just listening to God and submerging ourselves in the surrounding culture can be a very eye opening and life changing experience. Without even knowing, we can not only have our lives influenced, but also influence lives of others around us. Silence is one of the best ways we can improve our relationship with God. It is easy when you don't have an option to be connected, but even though we can be on our phones 24/7, try going without for at least 30mins a day. Turn off your phone, turn off theTV, turn off the computer, turn off your  music, and just sit in silence. Also, turn off your mind as well, don't spend the time planning out your next day, or thinking about what needs to be done around the house, or who you need to call next time your phone is on...take that time to completely clear your mind and give all that you need to do to God. You are spending time with him, he will make sure that everything that needs to be done will get done in time.

Connect with God, disconnect from the world.

Seth, West Virginia deep in the Appalachian mountains

Me and Kimberly after Friday night program

Yakutat, Alaska

RefraME

Society today needs to reframe how we view Jesus.

When I was out in Colorado for my two weeks of training to become a red shirt, we watched one video that a guy had created where he went across the US asking the one question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" The most common answer was, "He's a nice guy." So you want to tell me that the Son of God who was humbly sent down to this earth, who was born into poverty, had 12 devouted followers, performed miracles, taught thousands, then died on a cross for us was just a "nice guy?"

This summer the theme for the workcamps that I am setting up and running across the country is REFRAME because we are reframing who Jesus Christ is to us, and who we are to Him. For the past two and a half weeks my crew and I have been working none stop at two different camps to make sure that the youth coming in can really reflect on this theme, and more importantly on who Jesus is to them. After we traveled the country driving from Colorado to North Carolina, we helped another crew set up and volunteer at their camp in Lexington, North Carolina. It was great for both of us; my crew got to have a practice run of what it looks like to set up for a camp, and the other crew got some much needed help from us. We only stayed half way through the camp, but we got to see some of the residents and the kids, and how they loved the camp and the theme. We then left on Wednesday to head down to Greenwood, South Carolina to set up and run our own camp.

In the beginning of the week, it was hard for the campers, and even me to see how this theme was going to work for this camp. The first two days are always more introduction to the camp and what is going to happen, so the theme really hadn't started to come out yet. Then, Tuesday started it all, for everyone.

Tuesday night program we showed a video entitled King of Kings; a simple black and white video without any spoken words, just music and written words on the screen. It talks about how there is a king above all kings, where no earthly king can ever compare to Him. Then another king ascended the throne, sin, and it comes in many forms, especially those that are hard to detect. But then a new king came into this world, and He was born into poverty in a manager. Our society is putting sin on a throne, where we are worshipping it by blindly following and letting it comsume out lives. Matthew did the same thing in the Bible; he was a tax collector who cheated many people out of their money and only thought about himself. Then Jesus came along and told Matthew to follow Him, without hestitating even once. He used to worship sin, but now He follows Jesus. We need to reframe who we are following in our own life.

Wednesday was truly powerful; where we asked the question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" This hit hard to many people; one girl in a youth group had just found out that her father was admitted to hospice with only days to live when she heard this theme for the night. It is a hard question to ask, one that many people reflect on a lot. Are these bad things happening becausee of our sin? Think of the sick man in the Bible where the pharasses asked if the one man was sick because of his sin or his parents sin? Jesus said neither reason, but becasue He will be able to truly see the face of God through his sickness. We are all given crosses to bear, some will be harder than others, but that doesn't mean that we are being punished for things that we have done. God doesn't give a someone a cross that is too much for them to bear, for He knows what we can and can't handle. This night, this one night is  what changed the pace of the camp for the rest of the week.

During the program there is what is called, 'God Sightings' where some of the campers will come up and share how they saw God working today. The last girl to go on this night was a small timid girl who looked like she was a deer in the headlights. When she got up to speak, she spoke softly and shared of how when she was 4 years old her mother left her, and then when she was 8 years old shse realized that her mother was never coming back for her. Over the next few years, most of her family had left her, and when she would try to talk to someone about the situtation, everyone wouldn't listen and would just leave. This is the second workcamp that she has been on, last year her first and she wasn't too sure about it. But now, after having had two years of being surrounded by people who are loving and caring and willing to listen without leaving, she decided, on this night, to follow Jesus, to accept Him, and to love Him. This girl is 14 years old.

This is why I do what I do, this is why I am a missionary. We need to reframe how people view Jesus, that He isn't just something we can pick up and throw away on a whim, or something that is just a small part of our lives, or something that we experience on a week/two week mission trip and then go back into our world of ourselves, a world of sin. We need to actively choose Jesus, make Him not just a part of our life, but the center of it. We need to reframe how we view our relationship with God, we need to reframe ourselves.

RefraME