Beyond Measure

The road was dusty. The air was hot. But the Arabian traveler continued on, walking several steps and then wiping his face with the sleeve of his tunic. The journey to town was a long one. The heat made it seem longer.

The exhausted traveler considered finding a shortcut; he didn't think he could go much longer. The field to the right looked promising, so he decided to cut through it. Staff in hand, he wearily pushed himself forward with each step through the field. The tall grass slapped at his legs as he walked on. The sun beat down.

"Maybe I should go back and make this trip another day," the traveler reasoned, his staff hitting the ground with a rhythmic thump, thump, thump, thump, THUD. His staff had hit something. Stopping, he squatted down and cleared the grass away, revealing the corner of a wooden box. He began to move the dirt away, curiously wondering why a box would be buried in a field in the middle of nowhere.

Something glimmered.

The traveler stopped in amazement. The box was edged with gold. With new vigor, he started shovelling dirt away with his hands as fast as he could. His dry hands began to crack and bleed, but he didn't notice and continued on digging. Finally, the man had made a hole big enough to ease the box out of the ground. It was unbelievably heavy. Out of the ground, the box looked exquisite: beautifully ornate gravings cover the lid, and gold adorned the edges. The box itself must be worth a fortune!

The rusty lock easily fell off. With trembling hands the man carefully lifted the lid. His eyes were met with more treasure than he had seen in his entire life! It sparkled and gleamed in the sun's rays. For a while, he just sat in awe of such wealth.

It's worth was beyond measure.

When the traveler came to his senses, he realized that he could not take the newly discovered treasure home. For one thing, it would be much too heavy to carry; second of all, he did not own the field, and therefore anything in the field was not his to take. The man would not even think of stealing it; he was a man of the Law. What a disappointment to find such treasure and not be able to keep any of it! Just then, the man knew exactly what he should do.

Forgetting the very reason for his journey, the traveler covered up the treasure, jumped up and ran as fast as he could home. He didn't even notice the heat. When he reached his home, he stopped in front of the small, humble dwelling and smiled. He would sell his house. Yes, and everything he owned!

His house, possessions, livestock, furniture, and measly plot of land...all of it he sold. With that money he bought the field. Now the treasure was rightfully his! His heart overflowed with abundant joy.

The things he had owned before could not even compare to the treasure he now had. Selling all he had was not a loss, but a gain! He traded that which was worthless for that which was priceless. The reward was beyond measure. And the traveler's life would never be the same.

By Chloe

August 2010

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Matthew 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

How to Fail a Test...with Dignity

Test-taking time is here! And not to worry if you don't know the answers - at least you can fail with dignity! (Click on the pictures to make them larger.)

Pressing On

It is exciting that a new school year is almost here! I can't believe how fast the summer has gone by! Now it's time to settle down and get back into that good ol' school routine!

As I'm looking ahead at the plethora of classes and activities that are about to fill up my weeks, I realize that I need to set some goals so that I can make the most of my time. One of them is to go to be early. The morning time is when I'm the most productive, so I plan on getting up extra early this year. Family are excellent accountability partners, and I've asked mine to keep me accountable.

Do you have any goals for this year? I would encourage you all to set one or two. Why? Goals give direction, an end to pursue. Without goals, it's easy to get distracted and not to care when you start to lag behind. Without goals, you can give up without feeling any guilt. When there are no expectations set, you can't let yourself down because you have nothing to live up to.

If goals are important for our daily life, how much more important they are for our spiritual life!

"...Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14

It makes me excited to think that Christ has a goal for me to reach! The goal: Christ likeness; conforming to the glorious image of Christ. The prise: Christ likeness obtained in heaven. We will never "arrive" in our spiritual life here on earth, but when God calls us to heaven, we will finally receive the prise that was an unattainable goal on earth.

Though we will never reach the goal of Christ likeness in this life, it keeps our lives focused on Him, so we can live a profitable life for Jesus. It's impossible to reach the goal just yet, but Christ can help us grow closer and closer to that goal.

So now it's time to get focused. What are you pressing on for?

Good News...Camp!

It seems as though I am always saying that it's been a while since I've last posted (and it's usually true), but this time I really do have a good reason: I've been gone! A few weeks ago, I was teaching 5-day clubs, which are Bible clubs that reach children with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was gone all day teaching multiple clubs each day! Even though I didn't personally lead a child to Christ that week, there were at least 13 salvations from other clubs! Altogether this summer, over 60 children have made decisions for salvation through a 5-day club, here in my district! Then this past week, I was a counselor at camp. Camp Good News! I've been a camper there for about five years, but this was my first time to be a counselor...and it was awesome!!! Instead of just boring you with any more of my rambling, I'll just show you some pictures.

Me and Olivia...she was a junior counselor with me.

Me and Olivia with our amazing campers!

Apparently, I'm the only one who heard "silly picture."

Awesome people...

Multi-colored tongues are just a part of camp.

There was never a dull moment. :)

Wonderful friends!

I loved every minute of it and can't wait to go back next year! The kids have a ton of fun, but also hear the gospel everyday, as well as learning more about God and how they can follow Him everyday! Camp Good News is like one big family reunion where we can daily serve the Lord!

Well, it might be a while before you hear from me again. I'm volunteering with my church to help out with a VBS at John 3:16 Missions! And then school starts up! Where has the summer gone? Hope you all have had a good one!

Risk Is Right

Don't Waste Your Life. It is the book by John Piper that I'm currently reading. I have gained so much from what I've read so far...and I have yet to finish it. (If you haven't read it, read it!)

Chapter five of Don't Waste Your Life is titled "Risk Is Right - Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It." Around the time I was reading chapter 5, I saw this video:



God doesn't call us to safety or comfort. The life God calls us to live means taking chances for His glory...taking risks. We might stumble, we might fall, but that's part of what it means to trust God.

John Piper defines risk as "an action that exposes you to the possibility of loss or injury." Everyday we take risks because we are finite creatures, we do not know the future. But would you be willing to deliberately take a risk to achieve something great for the cause of Christ?

After reading books like Crazy Love by Francis Chan, and (part of) DWYL, I've come to see that safety is a myth, a mirage as Piper puts it.

"The tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks everyday for ourselves but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love. We are deluded and think that it may jeopardize a security that in fact does not even exist...[I]t is right to risk for the cause of Christ, and not to is to waste your life." (Don't Waste Your Life, 81. Emphasis mine.)

The video by Francis Chan reminds me of the parable in Matthew 25, when a lord gave his servants different amounts of money. You know the story: The ones who received the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant," were the ones who took the chances of investing the money. The one who the lord rejected was the one who played it safe, who took no chances.

You won't get human applause when you live the life God calls to (you'll probably get called crazy and even foolish); but you will get applause from the King of kings. Think of Stephen, the martyr, who before he died, saw heaven open up and the Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts 7:56). Stephen risked - sacrificed - his life so willingly, that the Son of God actually stood to welcome him into eternity.

So I would encourage you, live not the safest life possible, but a life that's passionate about following Christ, no matter the cost.

Meet Cameron and Riley

Allow me to introduce two of my new friends!

As many of you know, my digital camera broke a while back when I was on a trip. I was hoping to get a new one in time for my missions trip to BABR, but realized it wouldn't arrive in time for me to take it. So, being the ingenious person that I am (haha), I bought a new camera and had it shipped to BABR! It arrived about the middle of the week, but I was still able to take some great pics! And now for the good part....

Blogging friends, meet Cameron, my camera. Get it? Cameron. Camera. Well, I thought it was cute!

(It's slightly difficult to take a picture of your camera with your camera. Thank goodness for mirrors!)

But there's someone else very important that I want you to meet! She's cute and cuddly and her name is Riley.

Riley is a Shih Tzu, very loving, and so friendly! We love her so much! (She fits perfectly in build-a-bear clothes! =D)

I have some special posts coming up, so stay tuned! I hope you all are having a great summer! I'd love to hear how God has used your summer so far; just leave a comment!

Blessings,
Chloe

I'm Back from BABR!

When I looked up into the vastness of the night sky and saw it covered with stars of endless number, how could I but think of eternity in heaven with the God who created it all? Although it is nice to be back to my " home-sweet-home," I enjoyed my week working at Broken Arrow Bible Ranch so much! Living outside the city limits is an awesome experience - I can just look around me and know that nothing is impossible with my God!

Throughout the week I was dwelling on part of Isaiah 40:

26Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. 27Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"? 28Have you not known? Have you not heard?The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God changed me in so many ways during my stay at BABR - but not in ways that I expected. I guess I was expecting God to do some marvelous work in my life, to radically change me. Rather, He reminded me of the "small" things that I had forgotten, but they were very important. And He did change me! Just not in the way I expected. I've found that God's ways are so much better! Aren't you glad that God doesn't always give us what we expect? Aren't you glad that our expectations cannot even compare to God's wonderful plan? I am.

Praise God for a week I will always remember! A week where I saw God's family grow just a bit larger; a week where I received new brothers and sisters in Christ; a week where I had the opportunity to serve Christ alongside fellow believers.

Thank you to everyone who was praying for me and the team! To God be the glory!

My youth group (I'm the one on the far left).

One of our projects was to scrape and repaint this water tank. Some of the guys built the shed behind it.

The perfect verse for dry New Mexico! My friend Michaela did most of the artwork. Isn't it amazing?

I wasn't a counselor, but I was assigned to a group!

Farewell - for a while....

Hey everyone! Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I'm off with my church youth group to Broken Arrow Bible Ranch, a camp in New Mexico that reaches many Native American tribes in that area. While we're there, we will lead the chapel times, help with cleaning and any repairs the camp needs, and also counsel the kids. I'll be working at BABR from June 7-11, but I won't be back until the 13th (my youth group is taking a tiny side trip to go white water rafting).

I would love your prayers for the week!!!! Please pray that the children's hearts will be ready to receive the gospel and that many will come to know Him.

Lord willing, I will be back soon! See ya!

~Chloe