OLSO Readers,
First off, thanks for your prayers for One Love Skate Outreach. God is incredible. Loving Him more and lovingly introducing others to Him is of the utmost importance (Matt 22:36-39).
OneLoveSkateOutreach.com, and all of OLSO's ministry seeks to
point people to the fact that the One Love is Jesus Christ. Please keep praying that God will shift everyone's focus to realize that the one true love is knowing and being known by God. Keep praying for revival on Maui!
Lately, I've had too much noise in my life. Too much worldly media-tv, music, and movies, and even too many people's input to the point that I'm frustrated and confused and struggling to hear God's guidance.
- Last night I had an interesting dream that I was leading a Bible study on Judges... (Which we're starting up this Saturday with the Young Adults):
As I started reading the Bible and speaking to the group, for some random reason a radio was playing in the corner of the room, and it was distracting.
- Someone shut the radio off, but when I started speaking God's Word again the cd player kicked on, and again we were all distracted. Finally, we unplugged it. But everyone was less focused.
- Then, as I started to get back into God's Word again with the group, in the front of the room another radio came on and started playing. Again, it was very distracting. Then I woke up.
My first thought when I woke up was:
How can I hear God's voice with all of this extra noise in my life?
Jesus said that in order to follow Him, we need to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23). Especially after being in the PI, I realize that lately, I
've been a little too comfortable. I want to follow Jesus, so He's revealed to me that for a season, I need to deny myself of media for a while.
Lately, especially with the stress of grad school and Nicole teaching school, I've really enjoyed watching movies and even tv with my wife. It's not that we've been watching or listening to things that are "notoriously dirty," but the world's influence is so heavy and the mindsets are unavoidable as we unwind with this media. 1 John 2:15-17 is a strong reminder not to love the things of this world, and I've been seeing some red flags in my life that I don't want to let influence my family!
Furthermore, even though it's an important part of my ministry at Pukalani Baptist and with OLSO, I've been spending a little too much time on facebook.
I want to hear God, but lately I've been putting too many earthly voices into my mind, and it's confusing!
So, for the next 40+ days, I 'm going to fast from media and feast on God's Word.
- I'll be "pulling the plug" on all music, tv, movies, youtube videos, and social networking sites.
- I'll still use my cell phone and still use e-mail, but I'll be off of Facebook and Twitter until April 4.
I'll be meditating on Colossians 3:1-2 as these other influences are unplugged from my life:
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."
- Colossians 3:1-2
From February 18-April 4 I'll be taking a break from music, tv, youtube videos, and social networking sites in an effort to set my heart and mind on God and His Word.
Please keep praying for One Love Skate Outreach. I believe God's got incredible plans for this ministry here on Maui. Even though it seems like not that much is going on with the skate ministry, I'm stoked about this summer, and today I even had the opportunity to go down to Keopuolani Park and help put new skatelite on the vert ramp. Plus, the tracts are still floating around, and people are still watching the videos on the website. So as you guys pray, please pray for God to work through all those mediums.
Thanks for your prayers, and may God give all of us the strength to disconnect from the world and "tap into Jesus." =)
May God teach all of us more about Him as we disconnect from the world and plug into Him, the True Vine (John 15:5-6).
Grace and Peace,
Josh
