My life of late.

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."                Colossians 3:5-10

The way of life described in this passage (along with many others in Paul's letters) is impossible. Well, at least on your own. In Christ I can do all things.

I am constantly praying to God to help me "put to death" the things listed in this passage of scripture. I am not good at it. I'm constantly sinning and the guilt is something that is burdening. Some people will read this and think that it is ridiculous, that the Bible is fallacy, it can't be trusted, and that faith in God is pointless. Some will read it and say the same thing I did. The former won't understand it most likely cause they don't have the Holy Spirit living in them, without that, the bible is just another book. What the Spirit of God has taught me though is that I, along with the entire human race, am looking for something to satisfy. I say I love God with all of my heart, mind and soul, yet I continue to choose to lust, which can cause all sorts of other problems such as pride and anger and jealousy. Why do I do this!? It's cause I can not fully comprehend the love of Christ, and am not satisfied by it. Am I willing to really give up my 'sinful' desires, to be filled with the desires of Christ? If not, then I need to pray to God to make me willing! And then pray for my desires of sin to be uprooted and replaced with desires of Christ! Alas! (ya, i just used that word!) sin never leaves me though, for I am NOT in any way perfect. But this is also where the Spirit of God comes in. If, you are indeed a "christian" and have received the Holy Spirit into your life, then one of the "fruits" that your life will bear is Self-Control.

"But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him." 1 Thessolonians 5:8-10

Paul even commands the Thessolonians to be self-controlled! I come to this conclusion. I walk in the everlasting Grace and Mercy of my Maker and King. His love for me is so great and powerful that I will never understand it, but I do receive it! I allow that love of Christ to transform my thinking, so that when temptation to Lust, or be angry or jealous comes, I realize it and act against it, in the opposite spirit! If I get angry at someone, I act kindly towards them, if I am jealous of someone, I humble myself and allow them to get the glory. I try and life my life in a way that in everything I do I glorify Christ because He deserves all honor and glory!

I could go on and on and on about this subject, but this is a blog, so i'm keeping it short!

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  Philippians 4:13

Aaron.

Politics!

So, my friends and I were all watching the election together when we saw that Martha Coakley conceded and Scott Brown won the senate election! We all started going crazy because this is an amazing feat for republicans, and no doubt the work of God, and we decided to go downtown, find where Senator Brown would be giving his speech and attend it! So we had no clue where it was, and we had heard something about the Sheraton, so we went there. Walking in, you could already feel the mood of the place: depressed, bitter and angry. In front of us stood a Martha Coakley poster! We accidentally went to Martha Coakley's convention place!! We all started laughing really hard because we had been obnoxious all night, yelling "Scott Brown, Scott Brown!". Turning to leave, I look up and see none other than Senator John Kerry walking through a door behind me, heading to his car! He was on crutches and there were like 6 guards around him, and I managed to get a pretty classic horrible-quality picture with the camera on my phone! As his car was pulling away, my friend Jer, who had already abandoned any sort of sanity, ran after his car yelling "Go Scott Brown, oh yeah!!" It was hilarious! Then, walking back to our car, we ran into the only other Brown-enthusiast we had seen on the streets all night, and he happily directed us to the place where the speech was being held. After 10 minutes of driving and walking, destroying our vocal chords by yelling the whole way too, we arrived at the 4 Seasons Hotel and saw our New Senator Brown give his acceptance speech. It was awesome. We we the most under-dressed people there no doubt, and also the most sober! It was a great time. I cannot say enough how happy and ecstatic I am that this state of MA, one of the most, if not the most, liberal state in our nation, has just elected a Republican Senator! My heart is over-joyed by the millions of lives of unborn children that will be saved as a result of this. Praise God!

that's all folks!

Reeves

Missions exist because worship doesn't.

So I'm reading "Let the nations be glad" by John Piper. It's blowing my mind. I've read maybe like 20 pages, so I can't really talk that much about it yet (mostly cause it was late when I was reading it and I'm having a hard time remember some stuff). But, from what I do remember, it's challenging me and it's wonderful! I love his emphasis on how our the ultimate "end" is worship. To glorify God. So therefore, missions exist, because Worship does not. One of our goals as Christians is to lead people into the Love-relationship with God and to give glory to Him in all that we do. To worship Him! So ya, that's a little taste of the book. I hope I portrayed it correctly so far...haha.

So I just dyed my hair black and teal. It's so awesome, I must say.

Koreans are awesome. And i love Jesus. He's captivated my heart and continues to have mercy on my sinful self, which astounds me.

and that's the update.

aaron

Overwhelmed

I am overwhelmed. So overwhelmed. How can I put up with this? How is it possible for me to continue to live like this? I am easily distracted by it. By what? (asks you, the reader). Joy. Love. God's love. Faithfulness. Well, just God in general. Today was a day dedicated to fundraising, I should more properly say, be dedicated to those who are dedicated to my work here in Boston. So, I started working on my newsletter in the after-morning, right before lunch, and found myself extremely frustrated because I had no "Microsoft Office" or "IWork 09" to work with..or even photoshop. I was stuck with GIMP, which is a free version of Photoshop, basically. I was getting all flustered because usually my newsletters are really nicely done, I kinda take pride of them, and now I couldn't do a nice one. Then I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me that it's not how nice my newsletters look, but how God touches the heart of those who read them, and it's really not me at all. That was a nice thing of the Holy Spirit to do :). So I stopped freakin out and just made a regular newsletter and chose Joy. I got really excited all of the sudden, cause I know God will use my newsletter to reach people and His Will will be done! I am hyper now too, cause I had an idea for a stencil to spray-paint onto a t-shirt, and I did it (even though i supposed to be working on my newsletter!) and it turned out awesome! Thank you Jesus. He has been blessing me so much lately. I love Him a lot. This blog really is just for me to get out there that Jesus rocks, and is so involved in our every day lives. Choose Joy people. Choose it.

OH! And i can't forget about Dragonforce! Amazing music. Amazing.

Yup. I pray the fruits of the spirit may be evident in your life! Choose it! :)

Dragonforce.
Aaron.

Faithfulness

So today started off with me not wanting to get up. Reason being, I got in at 1:30 after driving for a total of 14 hours from Grove City, PA. Tiredness loomed over me all the way to work and gave me a bad outlook for the day. My attitude got worse when I found out our internet wasn't working at work, so I therefore could not download programs I needed to to get some fundraising done. Great. Then, my camera charger blew up when I plugged it into an outlet, which then preceded to catch on fire. Yippee. This day=amazing. I can't charge my camera, get online to get stuff done, and I am super tired. I was bumming around upstairs, complaining out loud to myself, and my friend Aaron Cieply suggested I go and pray for my supporters and just spend time with Jesus. So I sucked it up and grabbed a notebook that I used to write in (the last entry was in April!) and went to pray. I opened up the notebook and a couple things fell out, that brought a lot of joy to me. Two, were of art pieces of mine, and one was a sheet of paper that had a list of Gods promises and work done in me. This boosted my spirits and I started praying and thanking God for all the people He has brought into my life to support me and pray for me. As I was writing these prayers down I felt my negativity melting away and the joy of the Lord infiltrating my heart. I then went into praying and asking God for continuous provision and I was reminded (by myself) that I need a good play-around winter coat (i have a nice pea-coat, but it is really nice, not sledding material). So I finished praying and I got a call from my friend Laura Messina, and she said she was in the neighborhood and wanted to take me out and buy me a Christmas gift! So, I got a new winter coat, and some new technicolor socks! Oh how the Lord provides! So awesome. So ya, God provides and He is awesome. :) Choose Joy! I feel silly for being negative this morning, and am thankful for the accountability from my bro Aaron.

That's it! There's the story of the day :) Have a good one! :)

Aaron

Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have decided to be completely cliche and let everyone know what I am thankful for!

Above everything else I am thankful for my God, my Father, my Savior and King, for He is full of grace and mercy. His provision overwhelms me, as well as His unceasing and furious Love! He is the best Father anyone could ever ask for :)

I am very thankful for the large number of people who are constantly praying for me, and supporting my ministry with YWAM financially! You enable the work of God here in Boston and in my life as well!

I am thankful for my new friends and old ones. I'm continuously blessed by my friends, they never cease to encourage me, pray for me, and be there for me. Thank you! :)

I am soooo thankful for my wonderful and beautiful Family! My awesome parents, whose Godly example has inspired me to be a man of God, my beautiful sister Rebekah and her husband Caleb, for the love and encouragement they speak into my life! My awesome brother Hastings who I am so proud of! He is the coolest dude in the world and will forever be one of my best friends. My little sister Rachel, who is so talented and gifted it's sick, always bringing a smile to my face! :) For Dave, who also is one of the coolest people I know! His humor and creativeness is freaking awesome. And last, but certainly not least (actually probably the greatest) I am thankful for Philip. He always brings joy to my heart! He always looks out for others, puts them first and is one of the funniest people in the world, no doubt. OH! and of course i am thankful for dog Esther! She is the best anyone could ask for :)

I am thankful for the countless amount of times I have had the privilege to go out on the streets of Boston, sharing the Love of Christ! I'm so thankful for the ideas He has given us to be fully effective in reaching the "lost" children of Christ!

I am specifically thankful for a few friends that I really wanna mention: Jordan Esquivel, my very dear friend who has been a wonderful brother to me, telling me when I need to shape up and encouraging me when I do something right! Jeesh, I love him! For Taryn and Alisa Wobbs, my long-lost Fargoan friends! You two are such a massive encouragement to me, and I am so blessed by you! For Spooner, dude, you freaking crack me up and really bring joy to me in a way not many people do! Miss ya bud! For a new friend, Mari, who's faith and willingness to do what God is calling her to is super inspiring to me! For Josh Keller and Jake Peterson, two close friends who have mentored me all through my teens and even now! Love ya!

I am thankful so much for my friend Joe Mills, cause He is a man who does not give up and really fights to be an honest man in God's sight! I love him alot, and am super blessed by Him!
Aaron Cip, I'm thankful for him! Yup.

I am thankful for all of my friends here who are apart of YWAM Boston! Jessi, Jer, Kandia, Kopacz, Cip, Jordan, Joe, Debra, Nehemias, John, Amanda, Rapach's, Doug and Debi, Bob Hummel, Jessica, Hilary, Heidy and Javian, Katie. You are all a blessing and amazing!

There is a lot more that I am thankful for, but for the sake of keeping things short, I'm not gonna write them! This isn't really even that short. If I were you reading this, I probably would have stopped by now! Good job for making it this far!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and never stop thanking Jesus for what He has blessed you with! Thank Him in the good times and the bad times! Peace!

Reeves

moustache

For the first time in my blip of an existence I have a moustache. M-O-U-S-T-A-C-H-E is the proper way to spell it. I looked it up.

I moved into a new apartment the other day. This apartment is the bomb. I love it a lot. I have realized that as much as I want the guys I live with to be like my brothers back home...they are not. They are very different. We all are, really. Making our lives work together in our place is a stretch. I am glad to say I am heavenly blessed by the dudes that have to deal with me. They are forgiving, understanding, and convicting. This blog is dedicated to them I just now decided. To Aaron, Joe, Jordan, Ryan and Nehemias. You are all awesome and a blessing. They probably won't even read this but everyone else should know how awesome these dudes are! They rock!

Countdown to seein my fam: 14 days. heck ya. shabooya

Jesus is awesome. As usual. I'm diggin what He is doing here in the city. Praise the lord, for last week a bass player i met on the street named Bill gave his life to Christ! Pray for Him!

Made some friends at church on sunday, i joined a Church team...the welcoming committee i think. I'm pumped! God is answering prayers! It's the bomb. He is the bomb. Yup.

well, that's all for now folks until next time,

Reeves