Refreshed

That's how I felt tonight after hearing words and music from

Jimmy Needham

at Lascassas Baptist Church. His style is extremely unique: acoustic guitar, young white boy, and a funky, almost motown-ish feel. And his voice, the kid's voice was astounding. He's only a senior at Texas A & M, but he owned his voice like a seasoned artist would. Lots of jazzy scaling and soulful improvs.

But the most valuable thing this guy has to offer is his passion for Truth and sharing it. His set lasted about an hour and a half, but he only sang about 5 songs. He shared so much with gut-honesty about the need to spread the Gospel. That phrase gets played out but when he kept bringing Scripture that magnified the ULTIMATE, ETERNAL purpose of GOD'S GLORY through the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. What are we doing? What do we spend our days, our hours, our minutes thinking and talking about? The Bible's very clear about our lives on earth being but a vapor, a VAPOR! If you divided up our "investments" of time and energy into two categories: TEMPORAL and ETERNAL, how much would we be "worth"?

He even spoke specifics about miracles Jesus is currently doing in parts of Asia, because the people BELIEVE. It's not that He ever stopped working in that way; it's that we stopped expectantly and faithfully asking Him to. I was just ashamed when Jimmy was telling the story, because I knew no weak prayer of mine at this point in my Walk would ever be used to perform "Only Jesus Could" calibur miracles. Over there, even the nonbelievers know that He's the only God able to do such things, and they accept it. It doesn't even occur to me to ask for it in the beginning.

Then he spoke about India. And ever since I heard Andrew Osenga speak of it at a concert of his in June, it's kinda been pulling at my heart. Plus, my buddy Stephen Billings took a mission team there this summer, and I was praying for that trip and the people there. So I can't tell if God is giving me a glimpse of His future for me or if India is just the new China in terms of unreached people in the spotlight. If you have a minute and want to work on the discipline of prayer, I would really appreciate your help in discerning this. But no hurry, I have a peace and an understanding that He will show me where He wants me just in time to get me there.

In the meantime, He is so faithful to sustain me and even give me favor in my current situation. Unlike my Monday, I'm loving this rotation. Paula, my classmate that I'm paired with this month, is a great coworker. We always have a good time; she's upbeat, pleasant, smart, and she surprisingly laughs at many of my jokes. That's always a plus. And Dr. Wright is great. She's very intelligent, great at her job, direct about what she expects, and has a good sense of humor as well. Great qualities to find in a preceptor.

Since I've been back from Europe, I haven't been as stressed. I think it's some of the American that rubbed off of me. And I like being without it. I'm not saying I'm not thankful to live in this country. BELIEVE ME. I am. But there are negatives. And being driven by goals of accruing money and saving time is something I can live healthier without.

Simplicity has been a somewhat lofty goal of mine for a while. But now it seems closer. And I can even see it. Some of the things Jimmy said tonight gave me a glimpse of what it looks like. And it centers on Christ...and fellowship with Him. Which requires time...set aside for Him. So that's the new goal. Genuine time spent in His Word and in prayer, not the five minutes after my morning shower or the 3 before I fall asleep. I'll be honest. I'm scared as I type this. Because then it's documented. Maybe you could pray for that too.

Oh yeah, little pop quiz: What's after "Be still and know that I am God"? The rest of the verse is the key and one of the points Jimmy made tonight.