peace

Its almost 2 am right now. I am the last one awake in the house. Tomorrow will be good because I will get to sleep in. Life has been so busy here, I have not woken up past 7 in about a month. But its good. Its really good. I have been praying for peace for the last few days. I have peace now. I am really happy. I am looking forward to tomorrow I can sleep in. Ben's dad, Ted is in this weekend. And Lincoln's brother, Everett is sleeping over as well. So, its gonna be a good weekend.

I am learning a lot right now. Sometimes it has been a little overwhelming. But now, i am just breathing, and enjoying life. The journey is good. I am really content with life now.

I just got off the phone with an old, old, friend. That is why I am up so late if you were wondering. It was a really, really good conversation.

I am going to go for a run tomorrow. I am really excited. And Ben and I are going to hike our mountain, which is really a 300 foot hill.

I love weekend. No ministry for 2 days. It is so refreshing. I have to work Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. I love dish washing. Its a lot of fun.

I flew in this plane today. Jay Miller, the man who teaches biblical training on friday mornings is an ex pilot. He used to fly leer jets. Hes a true man of God. He took me up and we flew all over Tusc. Country. the weather was beautiful. not many clouds.

i am really enjoying it here. life is good. God is good. Simple things like candles are good.

i love life right now. I have not been this content in a long, long, time.

I am excited for tomorrow. Not as excited to go to bed tho.

take care, whoever you are,


JN

With Everything... part 2

About 5 months ago I wrote a blog called With Everything. With Everything is a song by Hillsong United (which we are all seeing in April!... I am so excited!)

It is funny.... when I wrote that last blog, it was the first time I heard With Everything. And since then I cannot stop singing it. It gets me so pumped up every time I listen to it. I just wanna run. I wanna get outside and run. I wanna run as fast as I can to Jesus. As my life verse says "My beloved, be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord because you know that your labor is not in vain." I want to run to Jesus with abandonment, like Paul did. I want to stop praying for safe things. (See Travis's blog for more thoughts about that) I want to recklessly love Jesus and love people. I want to be a bondservant of the King. With everything I have, I want to finish the race.

I want people to feel and know the love of their Maker. There is nothing better in this world. Nothing. I pray that my generation would open their hearts to God, and that they would desire that their heart beat to God's heart.

Look at the world right now? What goes through your head when you watch the news? Are you scared?

I used to be so scared of the end of the world. I used to lay in bed in fear that someone would hold a gun to my head and ask me if I beleived in Jesus, and I would say no. I was afraid I would go to hell forever if i said no. But that is not true! Because God has saved me!

But God.

But God.

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy has made us alive with Christ"

Jesus said "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 10:28

I am done being afraid. I am so excited for the end of the world. Because whenever it happens, I am going to see my Maker face to face. I don't care if I die as a martyer. I really don't. It is only by God's grace that He has changed my dead heart. It is only by His grace that He has taken my dead bones and breathed life into them in His Son. It is only because of Jesus that I am alive. How could I ever deny Him? Why would I ever deny Him? But I sometimes I do. Paul says in Romans 7:15-20

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. "

This song, With Everything, is my prayer for my life, my generation, and ever single soul on this planet.


Open our hearts,
To see the things
That make Your heart cry,
To be the church
The You would desire.
Light to be seen.

Break down our pride,
And all the walls
We've built up inside,
Our earthly crowns
And all our desires,
We lay at Your feet.

So let hope rise,
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light,
And every eye will see
Jesus, our God,
Great and mighty to be praised.

God of all days,
Glorious in all of Your ways.
Your majesty, the wonder and grace,
In the light of Your name.

With everything,
With everything,
We will shout for your glory.

With everything,
With everything,
We will shout forth your praise.

Our hearts will cry
Be glorified,
Be lifted high,
Above all names.
For You our King,
With everything,
We will shout forth your praise.

Woah...

May we live like Sons and Daughters of the Most High God


JN

If you go on a trip, don't miss the journey

I haven't seen this side of the 3rd watch of the night for quite some time. It is just after 5 as I write this. This weekend, a guy named Jonny Wheeler came to stay with us. He is a friend of Don and Travis's, and lives in Florida. It was great to have him come. He is a brother who really hungers for the Lord, and wants to talk about Jesus 24/7. I love it. It was his spring break this week, and he felt like flying up and hang out for a few days. Don and Jonny had a 7 am flight to catch this morning, so last night I was asked if I wanted to wake up early with them and see them off. I set my alarm for 4:30, but to my pleasant surprise, I awoke without the obnoxious sound of an alarm, at 4:26.

Its a little after 5 now, and the house is still. For a brief 4 hours of the day, there is not a soul awake in the Off The Wall ministry house. Except me today. And I am glad to enjoy it. Travis is upstairs. He is always the first one up... He is usually up around 5:30 or 6, but today he said he was going to wake up at 4:30 and see Don and Jonny off. I guess the comfort of his covers got the best of him. They tend to do that to me as well. But it's good. I enjoy the morning. I have my three best friends too keep me company. :). Jamaican coffee tastes so refreshing at 5 am. And Fernando Ortega's voice is just so soothing. And I think God made something special about being in his the Word before the sun comes up.

I am in Psalm 5. "In the morning O Lord, I lay my requests before you, and wait in expectation."

In Lamentations 3, verse 22 through 24, it says "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness."

It is so funny. God is teaching me so much right now. Don loves to tell me "Josh, if you go on a trip today, don't miss the journey." That is probably the second most popular phrase he uses with me. It is second to "What are you thinkin' Joshy?"
But I need to hear it. Every day. The funny thing is, I have been known as a pretty adventurous person. People have told me that they think I am crazy. But honestly, most of the time, I am unhealthily analyzing everything, and I miss the journey. I try to figure everything out about where I am in life, where I will be, why I am not there yet. I have an awesome experience with God, and instead of sitting back and enjoying it, I try and figure God out. I try to figure God out! How stupid is that! God is unfathomable, incomprehensible, and so far unlike anything any human has ever experienced (apart from His revelation to us of Himself)! There is a verse in Isaiah that says that as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are God's thoughts above ours, and His plans above hours. He compares us to grasshoppers later in the passage, which I think is a generous comparison. I feel more like a mosquito or a no-see-um.

So last night I was out at Denny's after midnight with Jonny, Don, Seth, and Mikey. God has been in the business of rearranging my life recently. He tends to do that. I don't like it. If you read my last blog, you know that I have struggled in the past with making my life all about "the next thing, or the next experience". So this past month, after God had clearly told me not to go to Colorado for college and Costa Rica for the summer (I have known this was His will for some time, but have been to stubborn to unharden my heart to listen His voice and trust Him), and stay in Ohio and go to school here for who knows how long, God tested me last night with another "the next thing" experience.

Seth is from Alaska. In the summer he commercial fishes. He spends all summer on a boat off the shores of Alaska fishing, which I think is freaking sweet. So, naturally, last night when he asked me if I would fish with him next summer, I jumped like a fish out of water (no pun intended). My mind completely disregarded everything the Lord has been clearly giving clarity to me about. Thankfully, Don was there. Don loves to ask penetrating questions. And I thank him so much for that. He sees that my eyes are widened, my mouth is salivating, my mind is racing, and my heart is pumping. He looks at me, and calmly asked, "Josh, how much discipleship will happen on that boat this summer?"

I looked at him, and realized the truthful answer. "Zero", I said.

I wonder what God was doing at that moment. Was he laughing at my impulsiveness? Was he smiling with gentle love shaking his head and thinking "Joshua, when are you going to get it. Just trust me".

Following Jesus is an adventure. I don't need to try and create one. I don't need to live in Colorado for 2 years or commercial fish in Alaska to have an adventure. I needd to just give my heart to my Maker and open up the pages of Scripture. His adventure is far better than any that I could come up with. I bet he is amused by adrenaline junkies. People jump off of planes and buildings to get a rush. Jesus would say the same thing to Evil Knievel as He did to those teenage fisherman as he walked along the Sea of Galilee almost 2000 years ago, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men".

Life is an adventure. If we go on a trip, never miss the journey.

"At once, they left their nets and followed him"

May that be our response to the call of the Savior. And may we enjoy every minute of it.



a fellow journeyer and fisher of the things that truley matter,

JN

Life Lessons from Barbacue Sauce

3 weeks ago I got a job at Damon's Bar and Grille. It was a blessing, because I had been looking for a job for about 3 months. Correy works at Damon's, and ended up getting Link a job there. One day, Link and I had to run an errand to Correy at work, and the Kitchen Manager happened to be in. Correy asked him if he needed a dishwasher, and he said yes. So, on the spot, I got a job as a dishwasher.

I was pretty excited. So, have been working the weekend shifts for the past few weeks. Work pertains of me standing in one spot for multiple hours, scrubbing lots of barbecue sauce off of dishes, pans, plates, trays, and the like. Damon's also specializes in their "Famous Onion Loaf". Because of this, I often come home reeking of onions and barbecue sauce.

Yesterday, about 2 hours into my battle with the barbecue sauce, God taught me something. Usually when I work, I either let my mind drift to Alpha Centuri and back, or sing worship songs. Yesterday, my mind had been drifting for about 2 hours. I realized that the subject matter of my mind as it drifts usually pertains to my future. I think about all these things that I think will make my life better. Usually my thoughts go like this. 'So, 1 year from now if _________ happens, then that will lead to ________, which will help me achieve ________, which will then make me happy.' The things in the blank lines differ, but it all comes back to the same thing. I am not content with what I have. I am not rejoicing in the things God has given me. I am not loving Jesus today.

For most of my life, I have thought I will be happy when ________ happens. It has been all about the next experience. It has been all about the next adventure. In my mind, I have been seeing through the things God has blessed me with. Some of those things are...my brothers in Christ that I live with, being mentored by Don and Travis, my family, my friends back home, all the stuff that I have that I don't really need in my closet in Ohio and in Massachusetts... etc. CS Lewis said it well.

"You cannot go on seeing through things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. . . . If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To see through all things is the same as not to see.”

I have not appreciated the things that God has given to me to enjoy. I have been so focused on "the next thing" that I have been thereby seeing through the things God has placed all around me. My inability to be satisfied with the things God has given me now has blinded me of the joy in treasuring those very gifts. I think a new adventure will bring me joy. And then when I am on that adventure, I am not satisfied. All I can thing about is the next adventure, which I think will bring me joy. And then it doesn't produce again, so I think about the next adventure. The cycle endlessly repeats itself.

That is the reason I have such a hard time committing to being in one place for an extended amount of time. Thankfully, by the grace of God, He is changing that.

So yesterday, God hit me with a verse. Timothy 6:7-10 says

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

and then it goes on to say in verse 11

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness"

I believe Godly contentment is one of the most valuable lessons we can learn in life. To be content in every situation, whether in riches or in rags. Only through the love of Christ is this possible. If we fix our eyes on Jesus, and set our minds on the things that are unseen and eternal instead of the temporary, then God will fill us will all joy, peace, and contentment as we trust in Him.

"But you, man of God, flee from all this. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love endurance, and gentleness."

"For Godliness with contentment is great gain"

God had to use barbecue sauce in New Philadelphia, Ohio to get that to penetrate my heart. Sometimes the messy things in life teach you the most. I wonder if it will be onions today? I will find out.


JN

Truth

The question was posed yesterday "What is truth?".

So, I ask you. What is truth? Take a few minutes and think about it.


Yesterday, we were watching a video series called The Truth Project. The video showed clips of normal Americans giving their answer to the question "what is truth?". There were a variety of answers. Here are a few

"Truth is honesty"

"Truth is whatever we make it to be"

"There is no such thing as absolute truth"


(And one of my favorites, that I disagree with, but I still enjoy listening to the answer.)

(me paraphrasing)
"Picture the human race standing in a cathedral. (A really big cathedral). Upon the ceiling there are glass window pains with light shining through them. Near the alter all the light comes together to form one really bright light. But when we look up at the windows, we see all different kinds of rays of light, all shining to the center. Truth is the collection of all of those rays of light. We may look at truth through the lens of Christianity. We may look at truth through the lens of Agnosticism. We one look through truth through the lens of science. But ultimately, all truth is relative to us and we are free to believe what ever truth we want to believe."

The interesting thing is that most of the people that were asked looked like they were trying to figure out what their definition of truth was as they were talking. That kind of baffled me, because, at least for me, what I believe is true is the most important think about how I live my life and how I look at the world. I know there are many people who are going to read this blog and disagree with my view of Truth, that Jesus Christ is The Truth (John 14:6) and He is the Son of the living God (John 1:1-18, Philippians 2:,5-11) and that is fine. But I would think that if what we believe about truth defines how we live and how we look at the world, we probably should know how to articulate it if we were asked.

Here is why I enjoy thinking about this answer about the cathedral.

If you did not know, that answer is from the position of Universalism. In simple terms, a universalist will believe that there is a little bit of truth from every religion and when you combine all of them, then you will find truth (or some of it is truth and not all of it. Both positions are valid in that church). If you want to read more about Universalism, just follow the wikipedia link or google it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universalism. What is interesting about this answer, is, that it is probably the most common answer we see in America today. The idea that truth is relative, is a very popular idea today. Many people will not associate themselves with the Universalist Church, but still believes a lot of their doctrines without realizing it.

So, my point in all of this, is this. If truth is relative to us, then how do we know it is truth? If one person says "Christianity is truth", and another says "Buddhism is truth", and yet another says "The flying spaghetti monster is truth", and all three of those agree each position they hold is valid, how can we know which is true? Are they all true?

Truth must be objective in order for there to be truth. Another question... If one hold's two positions of truth, for example, say someone believes the idea that God just created the world and stepped back from interacting with Creation but also likes the Mormon idea that every man will rule their own planet with over 50 wives (don't quote me on the number of wives), and chooses to believe both, then how can he believe both? How can he believe more than one truth?

I love what this 13 year old kid said on the in an interview. "There has to be a fixed truth for the universe to function properly"
I agree. Take morality for example... If truth is relative, what if one believes that murder is good and apart of culutre, like many tribes do in Papua New Guinnea, and then another person believes murder is evil? Then each person has a right to believe whatever they believe because their interpretation of truth is truth for them. So the guy that thinks murder is good can go kill as many people as he wants because he lives by his view of truth. It doesn't matter that the other man thinks murder is evil, because murder is 'good' for the one man and evil for the other. There is no absolute moral law that defines what is good and what is evil. That is the inevitable outcome of everyone believing truth is relative to themselves.

So, here are a few question to think about.

If you are a follower of Jesus:

Can you explain what you believe is Truth?

Does your belief of truth affect how you live? And if so, to what degree?

Jesus says in Luke 9:23 "If any man would come after me he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me."

Is that your response for believing Jesus as truth, denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Him?

If not, why?



If you are not a follower of Jesus:

What do you believe is truth?

Does it affect your every day life? to what degree?

Are you satisfied with your life in regards to your belief of truth?



Thank you for bearing with me on this blog. I know it was longer and a little deeper than the past ones. But I feel like this is a discussion that needs to happen. If anyone has any questions, or would like to dialogue further, shoot me a message on facebook or an email at cjoshuanims@gmail.com


If you want to probe this issue further, I reccommend reading Mere Christianity, by C.S Lewis. If you really want to try and tackle it, read The Reason For God, by Timothy Keller.



Thanks for reading and hearing my thoughts. Feedback is always appreciated, even if you disagree with me. :)



Loving Jesus,

JN

Let Your Kingdom Come

This past weekend I was in Texas. Yeah... Texas. That's what I said. I still can't believe I was there. I went with a group of 13 college age adults from Wayne and Holmes County. We drove through 4 states (Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas). I had never been to any of these states, so my eyes were fixed out the window for a good part of the trip. We left on Thursday morning at 7, and then drove for the next 23 hours... not getting into Waco, Texas until 7 the following day. (There is a time change). The reason we went to the Lone Star State was for a missions conference called World Mandate. The mission for the conference was pretty simple... Let Your Kingdom Come.

I have never been so filled with joy, then I was the last 3 days. Gathered with 4000 of my brothers and sisters in Christ, we jubilantly declared that His Kingdom Will Come. There were hundreds of stories of faith that were told, mostly by a man named Jim Yost, who has lived in Papua New Guinnea for the last 30 years of his life living out the gospel and proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ.

I was reminded of the goodness of God, and how in His love, he has set me free and taken of the chains that have held me down for so long. For a lot of my life I have believed the lies of Satan. Satan often tells me I am a loser and I am not worth anything. He tells me that no one likes me and no one wants to be around me. For the last 8 years of my life, I have struggled with self identity and self worth. I would walk into a room and be so afraid of what people think of me. Jesus Christ released me from that this weekend. He told me my name. He told me that I am Joshua and I am a Son of the Most High God.

God deeply cares about humanity and desperately wants to give us life... so much, that He did. He sent Jesus. In Hebrews, it says Jesus is the exact representation of of God. Essentially that means that if God were to become human... (which he did) Jesus is what God would look like, (And Jesus is what God looks like in human form, because Jesus is God).

This weekend I was reminded of the simple truth that we all have learned in sunday school... that Jesus loves me.
He loves me. Me.

As I sit on this comfy couch at New Grounds Cafe in Sugarcreek, I can not help but rejoice that Jesus loves me.




More to come from my memories of Texas


Be Encouraged that you are loved by the King


JN

random thoughts from a coffee shop

I am sitting at the Daily Grind next to Correy. He is fixated in his book, Crazy Love. I am just sitting here, thinking. I love local coffee shops... for many reasons.













One, being, the non-corporately brewed coffee that is cheap... not the equivalent of 2 gallons of gas. And I love the simplistic names they have for their sizes. Small. Medium. Large. My non college educated brain can't take anything else. One time I was in Starbucks and I was trying to figure out how much a small coffee was, but I didn't see the word "small" on the sizes. I saw "Venti". It really confused me. I wasn't sure if Venti was equivilent to a small, or a little bigger than a small, or a little less than a medium. I don't even know what Venti means. I think its a Greek word or something. (Yes, I do have some opinions against institutionalized coffee. Can you tell?)
Two, I love the local feel. This coffee shop in New Philly epitomizes Ohioans. Simple. Friendly. Sincere.
Three, I love the smell. Every half hour or so Tammy, the owner, grinds up some beans. What is sweet about it, is that there are about 50 containers of coffee beans around the shop, just set out for inquisitive customers like me.
Fourth and last, I love that I would thoroughly enjoy sitting here all day with one or two close friends.

I was thinking about the Church and coffee shops and how the Church has set a subconscious precedent that coffee shops are where discipleship happens, one hour a week. I disagree with that mindset.

When I look at the Gospels, I don't see Jesus sitting by a java bar in Jerusalem, interviewing his disciples, using a structured text in order to prepare 12 men to change the world. I see Jesus walking by the shores of Galilee, yelling at two fisherman "Come! Follow me". I see the two brothers look at each other and throw the caught fish back into the water as they make their way to the shore to take up Jesus's offer. I see the three of them walking, and Jesus saying "Hey, there is this party I got invited to. Its a friend of mine's wedding actually. Lets go!" I see Jesus and the twelve climbing mountains, walking miles in between towns, staying in peoples homes, and eating breakfast at sunrise on lake Tiberius. The point I am making is that discipleship happens in the context of life, not the context of a coffee shop. I agree that a coffee shop can absolutely be setting where discipleship takes place, but the coffee shop is not the means discipleship. The Holy Spirit is.

I love Off The Wall because discipleship happens. It happens in a variety of places and in a variety of settings none of which are constrained to a specific location. The idea of "lets get coffee and talk about the depths of your life in one hour" is so American. Now, I am by no means bashing weekly 1 hour coffee meetings. In fact, I have them regularly. But, the people I meet with understand that our meeting is not the means of an end. Discipleship will not finish when I get in my car and go home. Because, I am being discipled by Jesus, through the Holy Spirit and God's Word, under the authority of Travis Troyer and Don Stubbs who are both under the authority of Countryside Chapel and Almighty God.

Life is so interesting sometimes. God reveals something to you that gets you thinking for weeks and then you realize that what he revealed is just a piece of a bigger picture. And I am like "shoot!". "God, i want to know now!." That is kind of what I feel like now. God is teaching me so much... and I don't know what it is for. But I know "that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

If I knew the reason for everything, it wouldn't be an epic adventure anymore... would it?

It is amazing what a little coffee and the Holy Spirit can do. Now I am excited. And I am going to Texas tomorrow. Sweet.


JN