Q Crashing

This week I had a sobering realization.  One of the guys who has been staying at the mission decided to take his life.  He threw himself in front of a train.  This incident reminded me of one of my brothers childhood friends who did the same.  I sat at my desk after I heard the news and asked myself what I could have done different.  He was one of 300 men using our facilities.  Ultimately I feel like God was just challenging me to show more hope to the guys.  When someone gets to that point it is because they have lost all hope. I think we all should be showing hope to the world around us by living out the hope we have in Christ.  God talks about hope throughout the Bible.  Here are a few examples: "And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you." Psalm 39:7 "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God."   Psalm 43:5 ...

If I'm honest, I've always struggled with insecurities.  I always feel this pressure to preform at a certain level because in my mind everyone is watching and waiting.  Even being her in Eugene I feel like everyone is waiting to see what takes place.  This has caused me to many times focus my life around how I can best utilize my skills, abilities, and gifts to make things happen.  Many time to "make things happen" for God's glory.  Even as I type that it feels ridiculous in light of what God has been teaching me.  In the last couple of months, God has been showing me my real part to play in all of this is simple.  It is to believe.  Not believe with some head knowledge, but to believe with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  God is moving in this world and he is bringing glory to himself and spreading His love to His people.  We get to be a part of this when we believe him and trust him.  The Bible reiterates this throughout. ...

For some reason I always had this idea that when I turned 30 years of age I would some how magically mature and start the quintessential ministry of my life.  This belief came from the fact that Jesus starts his ministry at 30.  I understand this is failed logic, but it always made me think at thirty I would be doing some of my most amazing ministry,  The natural draw for me was to imagine myself pastoring a large church or leading a huge ministry.  As of yet, that hasn't come to pass.  Consequently, the last two days have been some of the most amazing and fulfilling days of ministry I have had the opportunity to be a part of. Yesterday I took a group of guys from the mission out for coffee.  We just hung out and talked about life and shared where we were struggling with each other.  It was an amazing time of communion with guys who don't have homes at the time, but are in every other way so much like me.  Today an ...