Impossible is Nothing

 -->

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Mt. 19:26

I did not know what my summer would look like, and I never imagined this…

I had big plans to make money, go on a mission trip, do Bible Study and chill. Things like: getting ahead on reading, Stillwater, Travis Park, shopping, and sleeping weighed heavy on my mind as I prepared for summer on the last few days of school. I had missed a chance to go on a mission trip with the BSM to LA and talk of going to Chiapas, Mexico with Segue was just a buzz in the ear.

One week into summer and all of that changed. As it always does.

In no way is this a bragging session, so please don’t misunderstand. But when one says God’s plans are always greater, this person is right…

- One-on-one discipleship

- A walk down Rodeo Dr.

- Seeing Irwin McManus speak

- Finding PASSION

- River trips

- Memorization of Psalm 1, 1 Corinthians 13, and more…

- Exegetical teaching and learning of the Scriptures

- Vacation Bible School

- Preparing VBS supplies for over 250 Villages of Chiapas, Mexico and beyond

- Playing in a skit for 1000 children (I’ve never acted)

- Using my passport

- Going to a movie alone

- Moving into a house

- Getting called to be part of His plan.

I long to tell you of all the marvelous things God has revealed of Himself and of this world to me. But to be honest I can’t put pen to paper for anything and articulate all that is in my head. (I should have blogged sooner, ha). All I know is that grace is insurmountable, love does conquer all, and God is my greatest treasure and the best gift the world has ever received.

As I was getting ready this morning, confronted with the challenging question of “what to wear”, I reminisced of “simpler times”. I thought of times I was a child and writing my name backwards was the coolest thing ever, and how power rangers got changed so quickly into super gear. I thought my parent’s yard was huge (and somehow stored a limo, somewhere)… I thought of light up shoes, ice cream after 9, sleeping over at a friend’s house, curly shoe strings, and how the circus really was the greatest show on earth. Surely I had NO clue of world population, because people did not exist outside of Texas … and as time progressed I desired to play sports all day even into college, I wanted to drive a car, impress boys, get a job to pay for extra clothes, spend time with friends and oh Friday night football games. All I knew was school and church and by then the world population increased by 70% of what I had originally thought as a child and I now knew there were 7 continents. I wanted to go to college and I wanted to live on my own. I also knew I wanted to travel. How times have changed… I now want to do things like have a challenging job, serving full time in missions, traveling the world, being part of a non-profit, finishing school, solving world hunger. Somehow the awareness of world population is unimaginable. I can’t fathom people in numbers…

I guess I wanted to remember how it felt to know nothing and the only association of pain, was me falling off my bike. There was a time when the world revolved around the house I lived in and now that my eyes have been opened by grace, I see this world has many people and pains beyond belief. Burdens of Haiti, the bombing in Uganda, and children who never get to dream of the things I dreamed of are dying! As Paul says, “When I was a child I thought like a child, I spoke like a child, I reasoned like a child. Now I as a man, I’ve put childish things away…” Not to be taken out of context but I relate to this statement. It’s easy to live life and be unaware of chaos around you, and as a Christ-follower it’s painful to be aware of not only the chaos around you but also within you.

I say all this as a reminder to myself of why I'm here... Why the call on our lives is important, and the very fact that God called me, and not I called God is extremely significant. I think and say “mission impossible”, because it is on my own strength. BUT when scriptures say “all things are possible with God”, they are and I am reminded again. Have you not heard about how God created the world from nothing? How He made man from dust? How He parted the sea? How He flooded the earth? How He used a young Sheppard boy to slay giants? How He empowered a man to shred a lion to pieces? How He stood with men in a fiery furnace and saved them from it? Or how about how He became a man bore by a virgin? Or how He raised the dead? How about how He washed the feet of His servants? When He died on a cross, body broken, skin shred, bleeding, crucified? The very God who created man also died for man?

God will not be boxed and certainly God will not be limited! He is boundless, He is vast, and He is marvelous! I say to you, NO mission is impossible. If the desire is God’s, that YOU spread the Gospel with your heart, soul, and possibly your life… then it shall be done. He has a mission for you, and that population I spoke of, the “unimaginable” one, needs to know of this mighty God.

I'm not that young child anymore, and my encouragement/challenge to you is to not fear the pain you feel when you're challenged physically and mentally to do tasks you deem impossible. Go forth make disciples, pursue that degree, change plans, accept responsibility, love someone, step up... impossible is an excuse.