Let there be light!

I recently finished a reading plan through youversion.com. If you aren't using that sight or app yet, it is free and awesome! There are so many different types of reading plans in there at different links and you can get your daily reading sent to your email at certain points in the day. It's great for me to be able to open up my email and there is my reminder if I forgot that morning. Anyway, I started a new one that will take 2 years and will walk slowly through the Old Testament. I have done the reading the Bible in a year plan and for me, it's like trying to drink the huge 6 pound milkshake at Chick and Ruth's everyday. It's just alot to digest each day. So this plan is either one or two chapters a day, and already I love it. How many times have we read or even quoted those first few verses in Genesis chapter 1? And yet, God again just reminds me of a simple truth about Him:

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light." - Genesis 1:1-3

I love the starting point. It starts with God creating the earth. I think many of us would like a back story like, why did God decide to create the earth? Or what was God up to before this? But no, a simple starting point. He creates. What does He create? A blank canvas for Him to work. Then you get this image (or at least I do) of God flying all over the earth looking around like Superman would only He is probably doing it much cooler. And as He's flying over the formless, empty, and dark earth, He stakes His presence and says, "Let there be light." Why did He start with light? I believe it is because God is light and in Him is found no darkness! It's almost like He's saying, I'm here now, and where I go there is light, so let me flip the switch!

What a great lesson to apply even now! When we open up the dark places of our life to Christ, He comes in and illuminates it all! It may be hard to see the crud that has been piling up in the corners of our lives, but once it is brought to light in the face of Jesus, now it can be cleaned and the garbage can be taken out. It begs the question, are there some doors of my life that I haven't given Jesus the key to yet because I'm afraid of what He'll clean out? How about you. You want peace? You want that abundant life? Jesus brings life. Jesus brings light. Why not start today with opening up some doors for God!

Thanks for hanging with me today,

Ron Foster

Pastor of Student Ministries and Connections

Mariners' Church

Did you say youts?

"Let no one despise your youth" or "Let no one look down on you because you are young" or how about this one, "Don't let anyone put you done because you're young". These are all the same verse said a little bit differently in various versions. They're all take from 1 Timothy 4:12. If you grew up in church, then you heard this verse over and over. Paul, writing to his "own son in the faith", giving him instructions as a young pastor says these words. Many times, when I heard this verse, I focused on the part that I just quoted. I would have thoughts like, "Yeah, I need to show the old people what's up!" and "The adults don't respect us/me and they don't serve and witness the way we do, so we need to show them up and light a fire under them to get on board!" I know, I know. I was a punk.

But here's the thing that missed. In verse 10, it says "For it is this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers." Notice the first part there says "we labor and strive". You know what word doesn't come to mind when I hear the words "labor and strive?" EASY. This verse is saying that this thing of following Jesus is a big deal. It's such a big deal that it's going to take alot of work. We're going to have to fight. We're going to have to push ourselves to the limit and then some! We're going to have to STRIVE!

And how do we do that? Well, after Paul told Timothy to not let anyone look down on him because of his young age, he tells him, "but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity, show yourself an example to those who believe." I think many times we miss the point of the first part of the verse and take the not allowing anyone to look down on us part and have it say that now I'm going to take the back seat anymore! I'm going to lead all these old people and if they don't like it, they can find someone else! Instead we need to take it as, "If I want to make a difference, if I want to be heard, then I need to show myself as a true follower of Jesus."

I need to be an example with the words that I say (to others and about others), the things that I do (and that includes my attitude), in love (putting others first), and purity (of thought, mind, and actions). You might be sitting here thinking, well, I'm just not there yet. This may or not be true for you, but we should all be striving toward this. It's not about what others expect of us; it's what God desires for us, and He tells us that you and I are now a child of the King! Let's begin acting like it! You can do this! It's what God has made you for! Not just to be young and accepted, but set the standard of following Christ in your church! Have a great day!

Ron Foster
Mariners' Church

Thanks God!

As I look back at the journey and course God has taken me on in this life, the thing that amazes me most are the people that God brought into my life at different periods in my life to fill a very needed and necessary part of my life. Let me explain.

For the sake of time, I won't go through my whole life. I'll just limit it to high school and college. Because of my dad's job we moved around from time to time and in the middle of my sophomore year, we moved from San Jose, CA to Denver, CO. I had come from a very strong and growing youth group in San Jose and wasn't finding one to connect with right away. Even at the Christian school I was going to, I felt like one of the few Christians in it. That was a very hard year for me, and then came Chris. Chris was the first person to really befriend me there. I didn't feel alone anymore. I had someone that understood where I was coming from. He got it. I thank God for Chris.

As I read through 2 Thessalonians, some of the phrases I keep running into are "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater", and "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth."

There are certain people that God brings into our lives to help us. They lift us up. Their walk with God makes us stronger. Their presence in your life makes you want to follow Jesus with more and more vigor! Those are the ones we thank God for!

I think of some of the guys that were that for me in high school. Guys like Jon Mark Trammel, and Ben Wooten, and Johnny Veatch. Guys like these that encouraged me in my walk with Christ and hopefully, I did theirs. But I know that God placed guys like this in my life at that time of my life for the purpose of pushing me forward towards Jesus. I thank God for them!

I think of guys like Jeff Penner, and Mike Shrader, Courtney Wheeler, Christian Morris, Ray Rhoton, Dave Armstrong, Nick Olson, Gary Shackleton, Phil James, Heath Marion, Randy Harp, and Steve Doss. All guys/peers that God brought into my life during that period of time that I needed pushing and they did! Some of them pushed my into walls, but that was usually just during a wrestling match in an empty dorm room. Here is my point. God knows when to bring just the right people into your life for the type of growth that He has ready for you. He is also bringing you into someone else's life for the same reason. I thank God for these men that God brought into my life because just like Paul said, "because your faith is greatly enlarged". Because their faith was great, it spurned my faith to grow great as well!

I want to encourage you to read all three chapters of 2 Thessalonians today (don't worry it's not very long). Then take a look around you. Look to see the people that God has in your life and thank God for them. Then go and thank them.

Thanks for hanging with me today,

Ron Foster

I'm Proud of you

"I'm proud of you." If you've never heard those words before, then I know that you are longing for someone to say it to you. If someone has said that to you, then you know what I'm talking about when I relate the feelings that come along with hearing that phrase.

I've been reading through 1 Thessalonians and a verse has stuck with me over the last couple of days. Let me encourage you to read all of chapter 2 today. The purpose of this blog is help get you into your Scriptures so stop reading this blog, open up your Bible, read the chapter, and then come back to finish here. Go ahead. Right now.

Good job. So here is what stood out to me that I can't get out of my head. Paul is writing this letter to the church in Thessalonica, and he's recalling his time with the people there and what happened there and all that. Then toward the end of the chapter he talks about wanting to come visit in person but can't seem to make it. Then he says in verse 19-20, "For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?For you are our glory and joy."

In other words, Paul just told the people of this church, I'm proud of you. Knowing that you are following after Jesus on your own brings me joy. That thought brings me joy. You are following after Jesus no matter who the preacher is or whether your parents are following or not. The fact that you're gonna go after Jesus no matter the circumstances brings me joy.

During my first year of Bible college, both my Pastor (Ron Sears) and Youth Pastor (Sean Sears) had come to the college on a visit. Before they left, at individual times, both of them had pulled me aside, looked into my eyes and said, "I'm proud of you." I wasn't quite sure what that meant at the time. I didn't understand how I could make them proud. I felt a sudden desire to do right to keep that pride they had because of me. Now I understand. I was no longer under their ministry care, but I was still following after Jesus and growing! I remember thinking that I hope to one day begin saying to students out of my youth group, "I'm proud of you." I've had the privelege to say that phrase now to so many. So what brings me joy? Seeing students who are following after Jesus whether I'm around or not. They love Jesus and His Word. They are following Him and growing closer to Him every day. Man, that excites me! And you know what? I still get calls from my Youth Pastor and Pastor and when I tell them about my family and their extended spiritual family, they still tell me, "I'm proud of you." And that still humbles me to this day and makes me want to follow God with even more vigor.

Will you follow Jesus with all you have today? If we on this earth can have this sense of joy when seeing others follow Jesus, what kind of joy do you think that brings Christ? What motivation! Why not plan your time for tomorrow (since you already did today ;) to spend some time with Him? He's waiting for you. And you coming to Him brings Him joy. See you soon!

Ron

The Mission Day 3

We set out on Friday morning with similar purpose as the days before. This was the smallest group we would be bringing. On Wednesday and Thursday we had nine people and this day we had only 5. Ryan had been the first two days with myself, and Amy (one of our newest leaders) had come on Thursday, and the other two guys Brian and Chris were new.

We arrived and almost immediately it was different. It was different because we were greeted by my friend Keith (who I'll blog about tomorrow). He asked if we would want Carlton to share his story with us. I didn't know Carlton, but I'm always game for hearing someone's story. We sat in a private room and heard an amazing story from Carlton and his life journey from being picked on and rejected as a kid to seeking acceptance as a teenager and college student to eventually becoming an addict to cocaine, and then his amazing recovery.

We then went downstairs to serve lunch to the residents and then to the public. With only having five people, some of us had double duty on serving, but everyone was fed, so it was all good! After lunch we helped stock their shelves that people are allowed to take 2 or 3 items from. When this was over we had Emily (the public relations coordinator) give our group a tour of the house since we didn't get to do it the day before.

After the tour we headed over the warehouse and once again bagged clothes, sorted shoes, and separated belts and bags! There was a large pile already being worked on by three of the residents of the mission and they looked relieved when we walked in. Just as we were making a dent, another truck arrived and the dumped alot more clothes into the pile! Some of our students were clearly getting tired so I just said "Ask God for some extra strength". I guess I kind of said that because I just wanted to take away any excuses to work, but a few of them did ask God for some extra help, and they told me that God did give them energy to finish! And we finished all of the clothes that were set before us!

We made our way back to the Mission, ate with the residents, said our goodbye's and came home. What a great experience we all had. It was different each day, and God moved in our students differently each day. Thanks to all of you who were praying and keeping us on the forefront of your minds! Have a great day!

Ron Foster

The Mission Day 2

We set out once again for the Frederick Rescue Mission on Thursday morning. From the beginning, it just seemed different than Wednesday. For one, it was all new people except one that we would be bringing. Then when we got in our cars, one of them wouldn't start right away. We waited for about 10 minutes to be able to leave.

The first thing we did upon arrival was serve the meals. Our students jumped right in there with smiles, talking with everyone coming through and good attitudes all around! After serving the meals, and then eating ourselves, we stocked the shelves of the pantry. That went pretty quick. We headed from there over to the warehouse to bag clothes (just like yesterday). We had a little more time than the day before, but it seemed like there weren't as many clothes to bag. We were done within an hour (with 2 more hours we could have been there). Just as we finish a truckload of more clothes arrives. We were actually excited to see all the clothes so we would have some more work to do! We mowed through the clothes and bagged up everything that came in, with a half hour to spare!

We headed from there back to the mission to serve dinner to the residents. We got there and the cook (Scott) told us that there was only 2 items really to serve and that they were all impressed with how we worked in the warehouse, so they wanted us to just eat with them, and we did. It was a hard working day followed by a good meal with the residents of the mission.

This has been a great experience for our students as they get out of their comfort zone a little bit, and put others needs before their own. Continue to pray for us as we head out again on Friday with a different group! Have a great day!

Ron Foster

The Mission Day 1

This morning a handful of us set out from the church to Frederick, Maryland. It seemed like an unlikely place to be heading to serve meals to the homeless and recovering addicts, but away we went. After getting oriented with the facility (the former Frederick County Prison dating back to the late 1800's), we began stocking the pantry shelves with lots of baked items such as cakes, loaves of bread, pies, potato chips, and cookies. Almost every shelf was filled. There was so much food! This was going to be food that as those receiving meals would come in, they would be allowed to pick several items from the shelves to take with them as they left. I couldn't imagine that much of it would get taken, but we stocked them full just the same.

We began serving meals to the approximately 25 residents of the mission, and then we opened the doors to feed the homeless. The numbers were staggering. They kept coming and coming. They told us that there were between 150 to 200 people that came through! When it was all over, we walked down the pantry aisle that we had stocked so full and to our shock, discovered that it was vacant of most of the food we had just put on these shelves. I mean, they were bare!

We headed to the Mission's warehouse after lunch to help bag and sort clothes. We made our way through piles of clothes and were able to finish up all of the clothes that were there for that day. It gave our students a real sense of accomplishment to be able to finish out all of the clothes in there. To close the day we headed back to the mission and served dinner to the residents. Needless to say, our students were wiped out on the way home, but the experiences and conversations they had today were priceless. I can't wait to bring the new crew of students in the morning to allow them to experience it all over again! Keep praying for us this week!

Ron Foster