Hello, before break

Hey, it is finally here, the final week of the semester and I must admit is was a very good one. We were blessed with the knowledge and wisdom of D.A. Horton, executive director at Reach Life Ministries, the ministry side of Reach Records, and Darrell Shemwell, a Bible super scholar. D.A spoke to us on heart transformation on Tuesday. We dug into  Romans 12:1,2. D.A. broke Romans into these three points, response to sin and salvation, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,", reporting for sacrificial service, ", to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." and rewed like silver, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.". When D.A. communicated as much truth as he did through these two passages I was inspired on how much we can extract from God's word if we look close enough. On Wednesday we dug into Ephesians 5:15-21 focussing on the theme, maximizing moments. This was really cool and I learned a lot from this passage and this is how it was broken down, wise and unwise living, verse 15, waste no time, verse 16, work to know God's will, verse 17 and walk spirit filled, verse 18-21. I have been learning a lot about God's will the past few days and this passage really gave me some good wisdom especially with D.A. communicating and extracting a full and detailed points of the passage. This week I was blessed to get this knowledge that these men passed down to me. From these men I learned, a Biblical basis for sacrificial service, a deeper understanding of God's will, how to live wiser and walk closer with the spirit. I am grateful for these points because I can apply these daily. Remember without Jesus there would be no Christmas. Merry Christmas.

Week One Week Till Christmas Break

It's Thursday and that means another End of the Week Review. This week was a great. This week's mystery Monday was great and we had Brian Wang speak on Tuesday and Thursday and Julie Coxie, head of Kanakuk human resources, spoke on Wednesday. So, mystery Monday was great. January first marks the start of allowed dating at Link Year, so in preparation the guys were given ten dollars and were told you have 30 minutes to plan how you are going to ask one of the fellow Link Year ladies on a "date", plan your date, and figure out what group you and your date would go with. Sparing you the borring details, I asked a lovely lady named Jamie and our date group planned the date poorly but as far as I know Jamie and the other dates had a good time so it was a success. On to the meat of the week. Tuesday, Brian spoke on the verse Luke 9:23, 'And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.' He divided the verse into three main subjects, self denial, complete dedication and willing obedience. He explained self denial as this, to get what we've never had we must do what we've never done, and what we've never done is die to self and the result will be something we have never had and doing things we have never done, an intimate relationship with God and doing His will with obedience.  I know it's heavy but trust me, it is a good lifestyle that has an awesome eternal reward. On Thursday, Brian discussed the latter two topics. Complete dedication, he used the analogy of 211 degrees verses 212 degrees. At 211 degrees ferinheight water is hot, an illustration of how we can sometimes be almost completely dedicated thus not effective. At 212 degrees ferinheight water boils and creates steam which powers a locomotive, an illustration of how, if we are completely dedicated, we are effective and can do great things. Willing obedience, this pertains to the part of the verse that says, "follow me." thus meaning that willing obedience is following Christ. Now, I have never heard someone being called obedient for doing the job halfway or doing it when it is easy and not when it is hard. So when Christ commands us to be obedient and follow Him we must do it to the fullest extent of our abilities and when times are good and bad. In conclusion, I have realized that I will not be dating any time soon, I need to be more selfless, and obedient to God's commands 100 percent. 

Bonjor, or as the french say Bonjour. Glad to be back on the keys in the wold of the blogs. Now lets transition to this Monday in Branson, Mo. This Monday our mystery monday was going to the K-Life party barn in Harrison, Ar, 30 minutes away. Though I was grateful for the giant swing and foam pit, I was even more grateful when we left for Neighbor's Mill, Arkansas' healthiest restaurant. This restaurant is owned and operated by a Christian family and it is delicious, I highly recommend it. So on to the meat of the week. On Tuesday, Kyle Unruh, the president of K-Life, the youth group type ministry of Kanakuk Ministries, came and spoke to us. Kyle is a very blunt man, but I loved it because he challenged us with the truth. The first topic he spoke about is greatness. He feels that my genration get's a bad rap and that we are not set up for greatness. So he gave us tips and challenged us to hold to these tips so that we would be successful and impact the wold for Christ. Next he gave us advice from a viewpoint of a father about dating and marriage. This was fantastic because he showed us his struggles and successes of dating marrage to and gave Biblical and practical solutions to the problems he had in his dating career and has in his marriage life. This was inspiring because I am starting to get the picture that dating, marriage and love, is not just about feelings but about fulfilling God's commandments and applying Christ's love. On Wednesday, we had the director of KAA1, Antoine Mack, come and speak to us. This was a special treat because he took the science of social psychology and applied to time perspective to help us conquer temptation. The issue of time perspective was discovered by one of the world's leading psychologist, Philip Zimbardo. Antoine took this revolutionary, and fairly new, idea and said that temptation is all about time. Temptation is the persuasion of now. This is because if we have realize the consequences of giving in the future then we will not surrender to these consequences. Also, another good point he had was that, Scripture links us to the Truth which is outside of the limits of time. I found this profound because truth will never be affected by time and will be true for eternity and I believe that God and his works are truth, so that means no matter what time or circumstance God is true. Powerful. My God has no limitations and is always true. I am blessed to be a follower of Him. In conclusion, I am thankful for the Godly and powerful leaders that take time to invest in us and challenge me to be great, apply Biblical and practical truths to dating, mariage and love, to take science and apply it to faith so that it may point us closer to God, help us undersand and have greater faith in Him. God is great and he is sovereign (Ephesians 2:10), until next time.

Wazzzzzup Bizlog Worldz. Here, back on the internets after a very nice Thanksgiving break. This week we had the pleasure of having Shay Robbins talk about the subject of intimacy, intimacy with God of course. The first day we discussed the issue of intimacy with God and strategies on how the devil is trying to make our culture shallow so that we cannot have an deep and thus intimate walk with the Lord like it was originally, in the Garden of Eden. The second day, we talked about how the Holy Spirit allows us to have a relationship with God without a mediator, such a priest. The third day, today, he talked about how spiritual disciplines, such as, solitude, prayer, meditation, fasting and study can help us have successful intimacy with God. On the first day Shay established this quote, "God never runs from us because of my sin and shame." This was very powerful for me. Everyone in the world has sin, any action or thought that separates us from God, in their life, including me. So if God never runs away from me, even when I do the things that separate me from Him, then that means that he will never leave me and God is always with me. Powerful. But wait there's more! If God never leaves us even when we do the worst of sins then this must mean that he wants to have a relationship with me and everyone else and all we have to do is accept Him and seek Him, He has already accepted us. On the second day we discussed about the Holy Sprit. In the times before Christ had died, the covenant between God and man is called the old covenant and required the high priest of Israel to annually enter into the temple of Jerusalem and go into the Holy of Holys and give God an animal sacrifice, to cleanse the sins of the nation of Israel. I say all of this because now, after Christ has died, we are in the new covenant and we have the Holy Spirit which lives inside believers and guides us to God and helps us have a more intimate relationship with God. This spoke to me on how much effort God put put into having a relationship with me. On the third day, Shay closed out his session on the topic of intimacy with discussing five spiritual disciplines on how to have a successful and intimate relationship with God. These disciplines as stated above are, solitude, prayer, meditation, fasting and study. While all these disciplines are fantastic, study stood out to me. In conclusion, Shay Robbins brought insight to a topic that is an essential part in a relationship with God, and I am thankful for that.

Urban Entry

Blog world wazzup! Today I come to you with a special post! This week was not my normal lecture week. This week Link Year headed to Kansas City, Mo and Ks to help serve The Hope Center. The Hope Center is a Christian based community development center in inner city KC, Mo. We started our journey on Monday afternoon and arrived in Kc, Ks at a friend of the Donyes house, which was a rather nice house. There we ate dinner and a game begun. Each family group was given 14 tickets, representing money,and several options on what we could spend the tickets on. We were also told that there was an incentive to having the most tickets at the end of the week. What we could spend the tickets on we're Tuesday lunch, showers, if you did not already pay for them, or phone time. For my group it was easy. We spent the tickets on Tuesday lunch. After this was explained, Adam threw us another curveball and said that the guys had 27 dollars to buy breakfast at a local grocery store for the three days. So, us guys put our heads together and had the brilliant idea of buying what you most need in the morning, carbohydrates and protein. Naturally we bought bread and peanut butter and coffee, a great decision. So Tuesday morning we hop in the Kanakuk vans and head over to what we would find out to be the Hope Center. When we arrived we were met by the founder and one of his loyal employees and have us the low down on the hope center. After this we hopped on a van and had a tour of the neighborhood to see what problems the neighborhood had and how the founder felt God was calling him to help fix them with the main mission of sharing the Gospel. During this tour the founder showed us that he lived in the poverty stricken, violent neighborhood that the Hope Center was affecting. This was a great lesson on how to minister. If you want to minister to people then live with them and get to know the people, the culture and the problems so God can use you most effectively. After the tour we ate lunch and helped clean a house, that was in the same neighborhood that was going to be given to one of the people helping start the leadership development program at the center, and helped clean out a church that the Hope Center prays to use one day to open up their ministry to adults. On Wednesday I had bread and peanut butter for breakfast and again hopped in a Kanakuk van to go serve at the Hope center. Wednesday was all about serving. For most of the morning and afternoon we cleaned and cleared out the church mentioned earlier, so by the time it was done, it was almost ready for service. That night we went to a lady's house that we had met earlier in the year and ate what most people would consider a feast. Afterwards we were done we cleaned off the tables and made 400 bagged lunches that were going to passed out the next morning at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday night we slept easy knowing that the hard work was over and that we would return to Branson the next day. Woke Thursday, ate some peanut butter and bread and got ready for the day. Today was different that Tuesday and Wednesday. Today we watched a movie. Not just any movie, but a movie about how Adam Donyes invested his time and energy into a special needs kid in Hollister, Branson's less affluent neighbor, and taught him how to play basketball and showed him that he had greater potential that he had ever known. This really motivated to find someone and really invest in their liv show them that God loves them and if they use the gifts that God has given them that they can acquire goals that they themselves did not believe they could achieve. In conclusion, I appreciated this week because it showed me how blessed I really am and how I should take advantage and be a good steward of what God has given me so I can truly fulfill my God given potential.

Week 5

What's up blogger world? Time to get that weekly review in!! Without further adue, let's unpack this week. This monday sure was a surprise. Adam knows everyone and he knew a dietician from Kansas City and she came and spoke on nutrition. The main topic she focused on was balance. Nutritional balance is considered eating lots of vegetables, less fruit, less grains, less meat and less fats, oils and sweets. Though this was very insightful, what she taught is hard to do with a small budget and the facilities here but mystery Monday was still a good learning experience. This week was an awesome week with awesome speakers. The week was planned so that we would have Marvin Daniels, the director of High Point at Kids Across America, for the three days but God is in control and he could not switch a meeting so we had Keith Chancy drop some wisdom on us today. On Tuesday, Marvin talked about connecting faith with all of life. This was fantastic. He discussed issues such as faith and politics, faith and culture and faith and sexuality. Talking about faith and politics, he brought up the issue that we should be neither Republicans or Democrats but Theocrats, people who are driven by divine guidance. You see as Christians called to further the Kingdom of God, Matthew 6:10, and not our political party. Talking about faith and culture, he reminded me that we are called to be ambassadors of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:20. As ambassadors of Christ, we are called to be the salt of the Earth, Matthew 5:13, but if you take salt and mix it with other compounds it no longer becomes salt. This basically means that I need to be mindful of who I hangout and what I interact with, because if I get mixed up in inappropriate relationships or start taking drugs I start to mix with "other compounds", thus I start to loose my saltiness, thus not following a commission by God. Talking about Faith and Sexuality, he talked about the importance of understanding Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them". As Christians we are called to be like Christ and understand that we are made in the image of God, and I firmly believe that God is not homosexual. I am not here to offend anyone but I am here to tell the what the Bible says. On the other hand, God is an all powerful, all knowing, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent God, creator and controller of the universe. Why would you not want to be in His image? Today, Keith Chancy spoke to us in replacement of Marvin. This was a surprise and a blessing. Keith is the director of Kanakuk Institute, a hardcore supercharged version of Link Year that prepares college graduates to use their God given talents in the world ahead. Keith is very energetic, smart and knowledgeable. With this combination he explained the importance of first three chapters of the Bible. Even though I will probably not remember most of what he said, his knowledge, passion and enthusiasm inspired and encouraged me to dig deeper into God's word, be unapologetic and to love unconditionally. In conclusion, I really feel that God has blessed me in coming here with all of the wise and convicting speakers that have helped me strengthen my walk with Christ.

Week 5

     I'm back blogger world to share with you week 5 of my Link Year adventure! This mystery monday we had an amazing challenge. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the game bigger or better, but here is how you play: you take an item and you go anywhere and ask anyone if you could trade your item for an item of theirs that is bigger or better. Well, some dude from the land of maple syrup, Canada, played bigger or better and took a red paperclip and eventually traded up for a house. So we got into our dinner groups and were given a red paperclip and was told that whoever got the most valuable item after two hours and 30 minutes would get Sonic happy hour. Naturally, my group won. Now on to the substance of the week. Adam Donyes spoke on Tuesday about time management. This really brought to the forefront things I have been contemplating, such as finding time for applying for jobs, working on musical production and exposing how much free time I really have. That talk really benefitted me and will benefit me for years to come. On Wednesday, Adam Martin talked about finances. I have the blessing of having my father work in the financial world and he has shared lots of financial knowledge and wisdom with me, so even though the talk was very valuable for most people, most of the items spoken in the lecture were things I already knew. Though, the lecture might have been repetitive, he shared a resource that is great for keeping track of your spending and financial habits, www.mint.com. This is an online resource that links with your online banking and basically categorizes your spending, so you can modify or see how well you are doing managing your finances. Today was definitely the most challenging day, because Adam Donyes talked about managing self. It was challenging because he subliminally forced us to look at our inner self and see what needed growth and what needed pruning. Myself, I am not the most disciplined person and discipline is the main ingredient for self management, this became really evident during the talk today. The latter half of Proverbs 6:23 says, "... and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,". This really impacted me because I not only have I seen proof of discipline working great things in my life but scripture supports it, and this has given me great motivation to be more disciplined, and that's awesome. In conclusion, this week was full of good tips to help manage myself in a way honoring to God and one of the main ingredients for doing this is discipline. So I challenge you, if things are not going the way you are planning, honestly ask yourself, where are you spending your time, finances, and self? If everything is in check, great, keep it up, if not, discipline yourself, it works.

It's week two, and mystery monday was still not my favorite but the the speaker was amazing. His name is Mike Aleckson. Mike was a software developer and CEO that gave up owning a successful software development company to further the Kingdom of Christ through Compassion International. On the first of three days, he went through a rather large history lesson of the Old Testament and very early years of the New Testament. One of the most interesting things I learned that day was that if you are struggling with your world view or a theological question, look back to some of the early Christians and say what do you think there answer would be? Do this because they experienced Jesus, and they would be the the person with the most right answer. On the second day, he talked about what it really means to be a believer and follower of Christ. In Galatians 5:19-21, it says that if you do "x" sin you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. You might say, "Rand, I though Christianity was all about for forgiveness?" Well it is, but you must repent of your sins, then your sins will be forgiven and forgotten. This is just a long way of saying that just accepting Jesus Christ as our savior is not enough, but we must not sin. This ties in what I learned next. I also learned that when you truly have the Holy Spirit in your heart, that your sin will decrease as you get closer to God, thus getting closer to our end goal, Mathew 5:48, to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is. On his last day speaking, he emphasized to use the world to help us confirm what God is calling us to do. Myself, still listening to what God is calling me to do, this was great to learn. Over all this week was a great learning opportunity that I took full advantage of, and learned many things and exposed areas that I need to wrestle with and improve on. In conclusion, I am seeing an occurring pattern, that if you study God's word, you might find that God's voice, is louder than you think, and it's powerful.

First Week Recap

My First Week

     My first week at Kanakuk's Link Year, a structured gap year program, was exciting, informative and eye-opening. With the first mystery monday, I learned that I will not like all the all the surprises, we went roller skating at the local roller rink. On Tuesday, we were fortunate enough to have Don For give his goals talk. I have heard this talk before but I was glad to hear it again. It reinforced that goals should be God-centered, measurable, only attainable with God's help, and something that I re learned, written down. On Wednesday Jay Holden, the marketing director of Kanakuk Kamps, came and talked to us about our strengths. The best part about the speech was how he explained how we should use our strengths to help us achieve what God has called us to do, definitely a point I want to improve on. Today we had the last speaker, Mr. Derrel Shemwell. Mr. Shemwell is what you would call a self-learned super Bible  scholar. This was inspiring because he had no formal training but was very proficient in the scripture. This just showed me that if you have the passion and drive and some help from God, you can achieve great things. Throughout the week the speakers gave me food for thought that enabled me to grow. Now, I am more intentional and specific about my goals, more aware about when, where, and how to use my strengths and more inspired to achieve great things. To sum up this week I have learned to be ready to be challenged, blown away, and let God work in my life.