The God Side

When God speaks into my life, more so when He does something big, I always look for the scripture part of what He is speaking to my life.

Here is the story of what God spoke to me, and how He is moving in my life (my wife and I's life)

He brought me back to the Old Testament, Moses and Joshua.

Where Moses parted the Red Sea and the amazing miracle that God did.

Here is the scripture where Moses parted the Red Sea

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Exodus 14:5-31
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, "What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!" 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen [a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" 13 Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." 15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen." 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt."
26 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen." 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
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So, God parted the Red Sea here, lets look at the people for a moment, God did amazing miracle for the people, to lead the people to the promise land, or out of Egypt.

For me, In December of 08 I was on as student temporary position for the Government. Once I stopped being a student, I stopped having a job. I graduated in December 08 and ceased having a job. God then opened a door for me to get a job at church as an intern in Jan 09 being over the young adult department. I count that as a miracle. God answered a prayer, moved in our lives, parted the troubles of money, paying bills and what not. God parted the waters so we could walk on dry ground. You can not explain that timing away, with the economy being in the shape it was and is, and for the church to want to hire an intern. That God parted the sea.


The Next Part, is what happens after the Red Sea. Moses and the Isrealites spent 40 years in the wilderness.

Why?

Refinement. God was refining his people. Infact, so much so that many of them died (that was the purpose) because the people were so perverted in their ways that many of them were refined to the point of death. Moses didn't even get into the promise land because he disobeyed God, and died before making into the promise land.

Where is my wilderness? I've been in it since Jan of 09.I would point to the my internship. How can you explain an excellent staff, and a fairly big church, hiring a straight out of college intern? You can't. A Pastor who is a man of God that has 30+ years of ministry speaking into my life, showing me how things are done. Molding me, shaping me, to the man I need to be. How can you explain, that I would over a department with my internship? A classic internship would place you under someone and not over an entire department. While I still had someone over me, I still had an entire department that I was in control over. God shoved me in that position and said, "Learn". Learn how it is done with the best of them. You want to do this? Here is how it is done. I was refined. I learned, how to run a ministry, how a church should work, and all of the administration stuff that I've gained in 11 months.

God tested me, my abilities, and I also figured out who I was, who I am supposed to be, and what my calling was youth instead of young adults. These 11 months has been my refinement period.

What happened next?

Scripture...

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Joshua 3:1-17
1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards [a] between you and the ark; do not go near it."
5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." 6 Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them. 7 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.' " 9 Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD -the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap." 14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea [b] ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground

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So Moses Dies, and Joshua takes command of the Isrealites. They get to the Jordan river which is in ITS FLOOD STAGE, and God tells them, get into the river and I will stop it.

Now, I would say this is bigger than the Red Sea, Why? Because they had to STEP into the river. God wanted them to take the step then He moved. The Red Sea, Moses lifted up his staff, and boom it parts. Not the case here, they have to walk into a flooded river, and then the river stopped.

How does that relate to my life?

We don't have the money to move down there, or the money to pay for December's rent, let a lone Christmas gifts, and all of that stuff. We are leaving our jobs, our security, our families, friends, our church, my wife's college, to a state 12 hours away where we know one family and have no jobs lined up.

I think we are waist deep in the river. We are taking the step because God told me to, and seeing what God does with it. We are taking the step of faith and see how God dries up the river, and answers our prayers.

Its also note worthy, that we don't expect it to go perfect. The Isrealites crossed the Jordan to fight a battle, I am sure we have a lot of battles, trials, and refinement to come. God is doing something amazing in our lives, lets see how He dries up the Jordan, and how we get to Texas.

Ahh..finally

The Cat is out of the bag.

We told, the youth and the young adults, that we are leaving for Texas at the end of December.

That is the Epic Journey that we (my wife and I) are partaking on.

A big step, but I feel its truly God, this is the second time, I've left a church, and it probably won't be the last time, both being God moving us.

The Story:

When my wife, and I went to Texas over the summer (for vacation), we loved it, we were at peace, and joyful. God starting something in my heart that we needed to stay there. When we got back to STL or STC, I felt I was not "fitting" into the young adult position that I held at the church, I felt out of my calling. You see, I was called to be a youth pastor, but my overwhelming passion to just minister to people took over, and I took the position. While I felt like God wanted me to do that, perhaps even to find out that this isn't my calling, which is not a bad thing.

I felt like God was really speaking into my heart, that this wasn't my calling. I've been wrestling with God about it the entire summer, and up until October.

I was waiting for the Dew. Gideon asked God if it was really you (GOD)to put dew on the mat and no where else, that happened, then Gideon asked God to put the dew everywhere else but the Mat, that happened. Gideon moved.

That is what I was waiting for to happen is for God to speak. He did in a huge way. God confirmed stuff in my life left and right. I talked to spiritual mentors, and others and they were all at peace with the situation, with us leaving.

At the end of October after a long walk, God finally broke it down. He wanted to us resign at the end of November, and move to Texas.

The end of November will be my last day as the young adult intern/pastor/director, then I am taking a break to pack our townhouse and head to Texas at the end of December, mainly staying for the holidays.


I'm excited, scared, and there is a lot of other stuff going on in my life, like my mom freaking out...or shall I say, spazzing out, more like frepazzing out.

Its good to get this out, and people are starting to know about it, the weight is off right now, and I'm happy for what God is doing.

I spoke my testimony not to long ago and its good to take a step back and too see God's hand in it all. God is good.

Now, we get to move to Texas, with no jobs, out of our comfort zone and really start over. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for us and what He has for me down there, perhaps its full time ministry, perhaps not. God knows, and I know God will not abandon us.

Looking Back...

As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and I are about to start an epic Journey..

There is a lot going on in my life right now, a lot on my mind, and I can't help but to look back on my life, and look at God's glory through it all.

Only to be perplexed on what does Christ truly have instore for my life? What is He going to do? What should I expect?

Right now, I feel frusterated and I need to vent, but I have to keep the "cat in bag" for few days.

God is amazing.

Blogging once more.

I am going to be blogging a lot more and actually "promoting" my blog.

My wife and I are going to start an epic journey, and I'll be explaining in detail, here in a bit.

I'm looking forward to blogging about this journey.

In other news, I realized that I've wined a lot in my previous entries. So a new outlook, I'll be going through my old posts, and deleting the whinny posts, because I want to share what God has put on our hearts, and what God does through us.

God is good.

The sky is the limit.