See Below..

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like you've loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours

Everything I am for your kingdoms cause

As I go from earth to eternity

So this is the song title of this post, but it was a little too long. I challenge you to read these couple of lines and really make it your prayer right now. I hope that you will take these words to heart, and really spend some time thinking about what they mean.

This week our focus for class was set on our relationships. Since relationships are everywhere and we can't avoid them even if we tried, we might as well learn the value in such connections. We talked about our relationship with God, friends, family, marriage and divorce.

At one of the night classes, we were able to have a time of confession among each other. It was basically a time to confess any sin, but it was more focused on the temptations that are apart of relationships with the opposite sex, such as lust, sexual immorality, and others. It was a time of confession and forgiveness, but she also explained that once we are forgiven we can be made pure again in God's eyes; and so a few people chose to pray for forgiveness, become clean in God's eyes, and then again receive their purity. God is so amazing.

Another night this week we decided to have a creative or talent offering. It was just a night that we could all think of a talent that God has given us and give that back to God. I guess you could call it a "Jesus Talent Show" but it was so much more than that. It was not at all to show off our talents, but simply to offer them to God. And it was kind of sad to see that others did not understand that aspect. Since last week and this week as well, i've really felt God working on my heart about my pride. He's totally blown my mind about what being humble really means, and how that connects with dying to ourselves. I've started to understand what it looks like when I tear down my kingdom, and start building up His.

During one of the days this week we were on the basketball court during our free time, and to be honest the game got a little out of hand. I feel that sports should be something that bonds us together instead of tears us apart, and so God put this passage in my head. I was able to pray with them that as iron sharpens iron, we as men of God, would sharpen each other through this time. We were all in agreement on seeing the bigger picture and understanding that it's not about any of us. This time is simply to grow together in our relationship with God, so we shouldn't let these things keep us from that.

This week was really exciting because we were finally given our options of where to go on our 2 month outreach phase. The options were South Korea, Thailand, or a trip up the east coast of the US. We were given these options on Wednesday and we had to make our decision on Friday, so we had to hear from the Lord very fast (haha). The Lord spoke very clear to me about where I'm supposed to be and He said Thailand. So once again I will be headed off to share the gospel with the people of Thailand. There one of our main focuses will be working with the Human Trafficking. I believe that God has put a burden on my heart for this subject. We will also be teaching English and working with the many orphanages that are there. Keep our team in your prayers!

Another awesome day that we were able to do was called the YWAM Base Work Day. That's when everybody on the whole base comes together and does work around the base to take care of it and to also grow in our relationships together. We have one every month I believe. So we all came together and divided our duties. My job was to cut down cat tails in the many lakes that are here on the base. So at 7:45 in the morning, and with a 50 degree temperature, my team and I of about 20 people jump into this freezing cold lake with machetes and start hacking away at these thousands of cat tails that are out there. We worked until 7:45 til 1pm. It was so cold but so much fun.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" -Proverbs 27:17

Give us clean hands, Give us pure hearts!

So it seems that we have class in the morning & the afternoon then we seem to have an application time at night of what we have learned that day . So here it goes.

Monday night- Monday we talked about idols. We not only talked about putting other god's in the way of the one true God, but we also talked about the simple things. The simple everyday things that we enjoy doing. It could be a hobby or a passion for something other than God. The main point is to make sure that this doesn't get in the way of making God your number one. Now I pretty much did this during my summer time before I came to DTS. Now I admit I did enjoy playing Xbox on my 40 inch HD TV, and I realized that it took up too much of my time. So I stopped playing Xbox and started reading my bible instead, and I also sold my TV. It was the best decision i've made in a long time.

But anyways, we went out into the woods and made a big campfire. There, we casted out all of our idols that we put before God. Some of the things people threw in were CD's, cigarettes, books, pride (written on a piece of paper), and a phone. It was so awesome to see God move.

Tuesday Night- We had a speaker come and teach in the morning and after about the love that God has for us. That night he came back and we took a very descriptive look at the crucifixion. He gave us the medical background of what was happening to Jesus' body as He was forced to die on the cross. I've never seen God's love the same way as I do now. That is a love that I cannot understand. If we just understood what love He has for us, we would in no way be able to hold that within us. We couldn't help but to share that love with everybody around us.

Wednesday Night- Wednesday we had a speaker talk about the forgiveness that God has for us. He reminded us of the sinners that we are and how great God's forgiveness truly is. That night we were encouraged to forgive any of those that in our past may have wronged us. We simply gathered around and said, out loud, the names of those people, what they did to harm us, and that we completely forgive them for that. We completely surrendered any grudges that we may have had. Now I'm not a person to keep grudges, and I feel that there was already a time in my life where I had forgiven those people from my past so I didn't really have much to say because they were totally forgiven in my mind. But then after forgiving them, we also prayed a blessing upon them, which is something that i've never done. So I prayed a blessing on those people that I feel have wronged me. I prayed that God would bless them, and that they would see the love and forgiveness that I have seen from God. I felt good about it.

Thursday- Thursday we got a speech about how work is implemented throughout the bible, and we were given our work duties. I actually enjoyed the speech very much. I'm learning to do everything I do for God, even the small things like work duty. So my work duty is lunch cleanup in the kitchen. I do dishes, sweep, mop, dry dishes, take out trash, etc. My crew is made up of Leah (the staff leader), Charles, Paul, Bella, and Randy.

Also some things that happened this weekend, I just can't seem to remember what day.

I got my small group leader. His name is David. He's in his 30's I think. He's the oldest small group leader there is, but i'll take all the wisdom I can get. We have one-on-one time once a week and then we also have small groups once a week.

We also had our 1st Dwell Night which is a time where we all come together in the gym and there is no schedule or anything. It is completely spirit led. We will sometimes sing songs, pray out loud, dance, wave flags, etc. whatever you feel like doing. It's just a time to go and be in the presence of the Lord.

Another cool thing that happened this week, is that my friend (also named Zack), his sister ended up in the hospital for some reason that was unknown. The doctors didn't actually know what was wrong with her. And so we decided to pray together for his sister that God knew what was wrong and that she would get better. The very next day she was completely better and was back at home. How Great Is Our God! And so me and Zack prayed again just worshipping God and thanking Him for what He has done. I've realized that after God does something really cool, don't just go about your business. Spend time thanking Him for what He has done.

"Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong." -1 Corinthians 16:13

Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is Yours.

So I guess ill explain a little of what I'm doing this semester. This semester I will be at YWAM Tyler. (Youth With A Mission) There I will be attending a school called DTS, which stands for disciple training school. This school is 5 months long and consists of two phases. The lecture phase is the first 3 months which I will be studying God's word, discovering more about His character, and His purposes for the future. Then the outreach is the last 2 months. We will be given a couple options to choose from of where to go outside of the US for our outreach. Here is the YWAM website so you can take a closer look if you'd like.. www.ywamtyler.org

Well I've been here for 3 weeks, but haven't put up a post about it yet, so I'm gonna do the 1st 3 weeks then I plan on posting one every weekend.

Well the 1st week nothing really happened. There's about 40 people in my school I think, so we just got to know each other a little bit to start off. We introduced ourselves and got to know everybody. During class time we had registration and got our books and all that. We also took tours around the campus to figure out where everything is. The base is about 450 acres, but I only have to walk like 150 feet to get to my class. We had our 1st family night. Family nights are every sunday night. We sometimes have guest speakers and things like that. They don't have church service in the morning so we all carpool to whatever church we decide to go to. In my dorm there are probably about 50 guys. They consist of 3 different schools and the staff members. One of the schools happens to be an ESL group from South Korea, so it's fun to teach english and learn some Korean as we go. The first week was pretty much just making friends and settling in.

Here's my daily schedule.

7am-7:30 Breakfast

8am-9 Quiet Time

9am-12:15 Class

12:15pm-1 Lunch

1:15pm-3:15 Work Duty (mine is kitchen clean up; wash dishes, trash, mop, etc.)

3:30pm-5:15 Class

5:15pm-6 Dinner

6pm-8 Free Time

8pm-10 Class

11:30 Lights Out

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. -Matthew 10:34

If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking!

Hey.

So this summer God really changed my life. I went from being the ordinary church-goer to something a little more Christ-like. I'm not saying that I'm anywhere near being like Him, but I have gotten sick of that luke warm stage and am now currently striving to be more like Him in everything that I do.

I've learned a little of what it really means to be a Christian, and what it's really supposed to look like when Jesus becomes my Lord and Savior. Romans 12:1 says to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. Now this means that when I became a Christian, I gave my life to God 100% without holding anything back. It means dying to yourself. It means that you have devoted your life to do God's will instead of your own. That means everyday you wake up and say "God, I give this day to you. I will do whatever you have for me." You see God wants you to give your life to Him so He can change you completely. He wants to chip away your old self so He can mold you into something new. Now for me this part was a little painful because it required me to give up some of the things that I enjoyed and gave me comfort in exchange for some harder things that took me out of my comfort zone. He wants to change you to be the godly person He has in mind and to carry out the plan He has for your life. And I promise you His plan is better.

I've learned how to stop living a life in which I don't actually need God. This summer I heard Francis Chan talk about a passage in Proverbs that totally changed the way I view the Christian faith and the way I handle my money. Go read Proverbs 30:7-9. Now this is a prayer in which he is asking God to make him neither rich or poor, but he is asking God to give him only his daily bread; to provide for him only the things he needs for that day. Now in America we have our jobs and our bank accounts and we can actually take care of ourselves. We have so much security in the things that we have, and our lives are so comfortable that we can still be a Christian and actually live a life that doesn't even require a faith in God. Now what he is asking is that he wants to stay DEPENDANT on God. He is asking God to make him live paycheck by paycheck. He wants to live a life that REQUIRES faith in God. He knows that God will provide for him whatever it is that he needs. He is basically asking God, "Don't give me saving acounts, don't give me retirement plans because I might forget you, just give me enough to survive for the day. Give me only my daily bread."

Now this is a passage talking about money, but after reading it many, many times I saw that it was more than that. This prayer is actually painting a perfect picture of what your faith should look like. As you go through this life you should be constantly dependant on God, trusting that He will take care of you. I'm tired of living this comfortable life where I put my trust in anything of my own efforts. I want to completely trust in Him.

Anyways this was my 1st post on my 1st blog. I'm going to end all of my posts with a verse that has spoken to me at some point. Oh and the titles are going to be a line or two from songs that have spoken to me. You can google them if your interested.

The world and its desires will pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" 1 John 2:17