who do you show devotion to?

    Yes! I just got my first very own Study Bible! One of the sweetest couples in my church blessed me with it. Now I can start blogging about Devotions, bible study "hacks", and other bible-related topics. I did of course have a bible (two if you count the glitchy app on my phone) but it was one I grabbed out of a "free box" at a church. As I pealed back the plastic that was protecting the delicate pages, I thanked God for the gift of His son, and the gift of His word through the Bible. It struck me really hard that God protected His word for us today, even at the cost of faithful servants. As with a lot of things, the more of the bible your read, the more you want.
    May as well start off with a description of the Holy Word. Many of these things you may have learned in Sunday school or AWANA, but lets refresh our minds together. First off, the Bible is split into two main parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Each of those can be further divided into books, chapters, and verses.
    The Old Testament (O.T.) is generally divided into 5 sections, The law, History, Poetry, Major, and Minor Prophets. The New Testament (N.T.) is also commonly split into 5 sections, the Gospels, History, Paul's letters, General letters, and Prophecy. (I searched for a helpful diagram, but turned up empty handed.)
    Back to the reading the bible daily discussion... (my intention here is not to point fingers just to point some things out). How often do we jump on Facebook or Instagram in the morning right after we wake up? I know how that goes all too well. I wake up from an alarm on my phone, so how easy to just click over to check the feeds of our social media accounts. By doing this are we placing God below social media? clarification, are we glorifying our social media more than God? In Psalm 119:147 it says, "I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your word." Time to be honest... I don't always want to get up before day to cry for help. First of all the whole "before the dawn" kind of turns me off (sad but true). Secondly, I don't like to admit I need help. The other day I did actually set my alarm for 4:50am with the intention of starting off the day in God's word. The alarm was faithful but unfortunately I can't say the same about me. I hit the snooze button and rolled over and went back to sleep without a second thought. How disappointing, that I slept during the time I had given to God.
     I will leave you with this thought, Who are you showing devotion to? Who is getting the bulk of your time? Who greets you in the morning? negative social media updates or a loving Father who wants everything good for you?



 

Intro to the Haiti Misions tirp

      In October I was privileged to go on a trip to Haiti. The weeks before the trip, I was preparing. Spiritually, emotionally, and physically. However, I was not prepared for what I was going to encounter.

      I acquired a book on what to expect on a missions trip to Haiti (convenient), so I was reading that to be prepared emotionally. I had done several presentations about the politics and history of Haiti. Also, (I help lead a class for special needs adults) I explained to them what I was going to be doing down there, so I felt like that would also help me be prepared.
      To cover being prepared physically, a month or so before my departure date I amped up my exercise routine. I wanted to be able to do any task they asked me to do and I felt like I was not physically to that point. On top of that, I got serious with healthy eating. I have pinterest boards that can prove that, or at least to prove I was thinking about it.
     I felt like it was most important to be ready for this trip spiritually. And I was reading chapters of scripture every day for a few weeks leading up to the date of my departure. I've heard accounts about of people going on missions trips and their lives are totally and utterly changed. I wanted that. I'm always up for an attitude change for the better. I've felt God's presence before, and that changed my life (good or bad I don't know) but I wanted a bigger encounter with God. Something life changing. Little did I know...
     This time, the presence of God was not "warm, fuzzy, and comforting." God used my time in Haiti to open my eyes to see, first hand, the daily struggles of my brothers and sisters in Christ. One of the evenings I was down there was particularly difficult. Earlier that day, our team had visited a hospital and saw the lack of technology and equipment. The equipment in that hospital was out of date and probable here in America, being carelessly tossed away. Yet, the work of the medical teams were using the out of date equipment to save countless lives every day.
     Also that day we visited an Orphanage. This particular one was for girls only, however, they did house two young boys, who the orphanage adopted into their family.

(Mike)

The girls sang us a song that said, "I have shoes on my feet, a roof over my head, good food on the table and a place to lay my head, and I am blessed." I'm sure you could go to a Christian school in America and hear a choir sing something with the same theme, yet, it wouldn't have the same impact. These girls literally only had the pair of shoes that were on there feet and that roof over their head, equivalent to a piece of tin nailed onto some walls. As good as the food may be, there isn't much of that, and that place they're laying their head wouldn't pass any inspections in America. That said, why would they think they're blessed? Living in the American culture, if we had to live in those conditions for a day we would consider ourselves "roughing it" or camping. The tears of our team could've been joined together to form an ocean. How can you sit through that knowing that in a few days, you will be back living a comfortable life and back in the routine of the busy American lifestyle.
    God used these experiences, along with others from the week, to probe my heart and soul. "How much is enough" was a question that kept and keeps wandering into my head. How much is enough? How much is enough? How much should we, should I do to further the kingdom of God, to help these orphans and widows in Haiti? To help the widows in Africa? To help the orphans in China, Europe, India, Brazil, and America.
    The other day I was talking to a friend and I said, "Why can't God just write everyone a letter, and tell them exactly what to do and when to do it, and how long to do it for, everything in the form of a camp schedule?" My friend wisely pointed out that a letter with specific details as I had been describing would take away a whole lot of the faith we need to place in God. If we knew what was around the corner and didn't have to prepare for the unknown, it would be very easy to turn our backs on God. Also, God did indeed write to us about what we are supposed to do. In a book, that is truer than any other thing can be. The b-i-b-l-e.
    I thought that I would be able to prepare for this trip to Haiti. In a lot of areas, I think I was able to. However, there is no possible way I could've been prepared to see the amount of poverty and feel so much of God's sorrow when it comes to seeing His kids suffer. I did have my life changing experience with God, I'm just not sure what He wants me to do with this knowledge yet. I don't have any great revelations to share at this point. I have no answers that have not been heard already. I am only a baby in this walk of life. I am willing to grow, even if it is painful, for I know in the end I will be a very pure gold.