Update on Capernaum

A little bit a faith goes a long way.  I always am told that but cannot honestly say I always believe it.  But the past 5 years of my life I have wanted to get involved with Young Life Capernaum, which is a ministry for kids with special needs.  I have prayed a lot of prayers and talked to a lot of people.  I went to Virginia and New York to learn more about it and to better get a grasp on how to start it up.  After all the prayer and work and patience (or lack there of) I was able to go on two camp trips with others areas this summer and learn even more.  But I have always had a calling and a vision to see this ministry in Toledo.  And God has continued to give me that vision.  He has placed a few people in my life around me and they have been huge help and see the same vision I do. Things are happening because of the Lord and i am very excited for the next few months.  Please be praying for the Capernaum ministry in Toledo and that kids with disabilities and their families can come and feel welcomed and loved. 
Keep the faith and the Lord does work!

Identity and Envy

Identity.  I have been thinking a lot about my identity lately.  And then Envy.  Pastor Pat gave a great message on Envy today at church.  And I thought he was talking directly to me.  And I immediately made the connection to my struggles with identity to my struggle with Envy.
Identity.  I have sought out many in my life.  You know: weird kid at school, sweet soccer player (that didnt work out), sweet YL leader (again, that did not really work out.), and more recently, a good/cool teacher.  These identities are what I wanted badly but yet have never quite been able to grasp them.  Well, I did grasp the weird kid one pretty well.  Soccer, I made it my life and that back fired.  YL, I love leading and trust that through Christ I have done a good job but I was not the all star leader I wanted to be.  And teaching, well that is yet to be determined. 
But today I realized that I wanted those things because i envied others.  I wanted what my friends had, what other YL leaders had, who other teachers are.  And when we are always envious towards others we will never be content in who Christ made us.  As Pastor Pat said, envy will always keep us from Christ.  We need to accept our Identity in CHRIST and put envy to sleep.  Confidence in who we were made to be. 
I will post a link to the sermon when it gets put online but you can find it at discoverthepoint.org go to the watch/listen tab and then select the Sylvania campus.  The West Y campus had a similar sermon given by my normal Pastor Ryan and i am sure it is great as well so feel free to give that a listen as well.
Love Y'all
Oph

Bullet Points

Yo, it's been a while since I have really posted on here.  Things have been crazy these past few months and I made a rule when I started this blog that I would not use it to complain about things.  So I avoided it a while to insure that I upheld that part of my commitment.  But I wanted to share a few thoughts.

• "Life's tough, wear a helmet."-Boy Meets World.  Things will be tough but we need to rejoice in the tough times and use them to grow closer to Christ. 
• Life is a ministry.  I often find that I pick and choose certain parts of my life to use as a ministry.  When in reality our entire life should be lived for Christ.  There should be no time card for Jesus.  Whether at work, school, or with friends; we should always be living our lives in a manner that is glorifying to the Lord.  I suck at that pretty much, but it is something I strive for and pray for each day to get better at.
• I find myself complaining about a lack of community but in reality I am doing nothing to form a community in Christ.  I love the book of Acts because it shows how the Church was formed.  How the very first Christians lived their lives and began to spread the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  That community of believers is a good model of community.  I often find myself longing for that but never put the time in to build that around me.  It goes both ways, don't complain about something if you are not doing your part.
• And lastly I am learning the importance of always serving for the Lord and not for myself.  Any ministry that involves humans will have its flaw.  We should all know this and come to accept this.  I have been learning how to keep my mouth shut and do what I can do for the Lord, make myself available for him to use me.  We cannot expect things to always go our way and we cannot expect to receive thanks or gratitude for things we do.  As soon as we do those things, we lose focus on what is important: Glorifying, Worshiping, and Loving Jesus Christ.

With lots of love
Opher

Walk With Me Into the Glorious Light

Take my hand, hold it tight.  
Walk with me into the Glorious light.
Together we are one with love
For always and forever
Take my hand, hold it tight.
Walk with me into the Glorious light.
Side by side we move along
Confident in who are
Take my hand, hold it tight.
Walk with me into the Glorious light.
By faith we love through it all.
For life is love and love is all
Take my hand, hold it tight
Walk with me into the Glorious light
Never turning back to the past
We are new and one with love
Take my hand, hold it tight
Walk with me into the glorious light.
Walk with me into the glorious light.