I guess it's hard to believe, the grace you've poured out on me. I guess I'm just starting to see, how you're working in me.

I got back a couple months ago from Czech Republic & Romania, where over 85% of the people there are orthodox. What I have seen and noticed is that orthodox has some good teachings, but it is very much about religion. There is no relationship whatsoever, there is only following the law. God has been speaking to me about the difference between religion and relationship.

What is the difference between a religion and a relationship?

He told me the difference is simply our heart. There are all sorts of religions in the world, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc. We see other people from these religions; we see the things that they do & we say "Man, it's sad because that person is so lost in religion." We think to ourselves, I'm glad that I have the truth. There are so many Christians waking up on sundays & going to church because that is the thing to do. They sing songs, give some money, maybe even be nice to people, but what happens if your heart isn't in it? Is there a difference between you & the other listed religions above? Sometimes I get my bible & and I go and have a quiet time just because I know that's what I should be doing. Sometimes I sing songs, worship God, and serve others, but my heart is no where in it. I’m so glad that God looks at our hearts because that’s the thing that makes relationship possible. He knows when I'm being real or not! If Jesus didn't look at our hearts then relationship wouldn't even be possible. We would be going to church, reading the bible, singing songs, but it would be completely all about religious acts. I praise God that I can do things for Him because I want to.. And also about the things that we don't want to do. He changes those you know what I mean? You may not feel like serving this person, or you may not feel like loving this person today, but do it anyway. It takes time, but God will change your "want-to's" and make you look more like His son.

A Father to the fatherless, a Healer of the brokeness. You make, beauty from the ashes.

Hey everybody! Everything is going really well here. Sorry it's taken me a couple days to post a blog. We don't have internet where we are now. We are now in a city called Cheb in the Czech Republic on the border of Germany. We will be here for a week before we take a train to Hungary for a day. Then we will be off to Romania.

Anyways this time that we had in Prague was so amazing. It is such a beautiful city. We have definitely seen that God has been very miss-represented in the people here. They have a totally distorted view of who God is and about His character. Czech has quite the history of being run by other countries and every time this happens they are forced to adopt a new view of God. Probably 90% of the people that we've talked to so far have never heard of God caring for them. Most people don't believe in His goodness, much less Him loving them. This week our team has had the opportunity to meet with certain people and show God's true loving nature to people desperately in need of it.

The kind of ministry we did in Prague was mostly on the streets. We had a big prayer walk around the city along with many outside worship times. We also led a local church service while we were there. What we mostly did was go out on the streets for ministry. We would go out from 9 to around 2 in the morning and we would go to the part of town where all of the strip clubs and cabarets are located. We would talk to people, pray with them, and just listen to them. Sometimes people need somebody to listen. We got to work with many prostitutes here, and saw what goes on in human trafficking pretty close up.

While we were in Prague we stayed in a local hostel there. This was such an amazing experience, I can't begin to explain. These hostels are full of party-goers on vacation just looking to have a good time. Try throwing in a team of YWAM missionaries to spread life into this place made for quite an interesting week. From cleaning up broken beer bottles, to talking apologetics at 3am in the morning, we did just about everything we could to show God's love in practical ways. In staying in this environment this week, I witnessed one of the most divine appointments I've ever had.

One night at 2:30am after coming back from doing street ministry, I sat on the couch and started talking to this guy named Borris from Colombia. He asked what we were doing here in Prague, and within 2 minutes of meeting this guy we were discussing the apologetic questions of Christianity and Evolution. My friend Joe, Borris, and I ended up talking for an hour and a half about what we believed. Eventually he ended up telling us that he was homosexual. He told us that we were the first Christians that he felt comfortable enough to tell this. He had such a distorted view on Christians and the church because all he had ever seen was them act in judgement. What a huge wall broken down for Jesus to come in!

The next day was our team free day. And somehow I ended up talking to Borris again that morning and through God setting this up, we actually went to Prague castle together! I spent an entire 5 hours walking around Prague, seeing old historical buildings, with a homosexual, athiest from Colombia & God totally set this up! He wanted to reach this guy. & that's not even the best part! This guy also loved ultimate frisbee like I do! And guess what happened to be going on in Prague this week? Only the Ultimate Frisbee World Championship! It was 137 teams from 37 countries came to play ultimate this week and we got to go together to watch a couple games. Neither one of us knew that was going on this week & then we realized that we both love ultimate frisbee so we went together & God totally set that up! It was amazing. So that was such a divine appointment meeting this guy, and he got to see a good representation of Christ instead of more judgement. It was so awesome! God is so cool!

You've crossed the finish line, won the race, but lost your mind. Was it worth it after all?

I was laying on a bench the other night with some friends pretty late. The weather was comforting, not too hot and not too cold. There was a nice breeze to remind you that you were actually outside. The only negative was that it was actually very cloudy. As we were laying there looking up at the stars, (which we actually do quite often) one of my friends said "It's a sad thing when the clouds cover up the stars." I didn't think much of it really, I just agreed and let it go. But then God started speaking to me, and I found it very humbling. He pointed out areas in my life where I had taken the credit for something.

-Little side note- When I think of God's glory I automatically think of the stars. It's just the first thing that pops into my head so I know that God speaks to everybody differently because we are all in fact very unique, and this was His way of personally speaking to me.-

Anyways, He began to show me that when I took the credit for something I was actually taking away God's glory from Him. I was actually being the clouds that covered up God's glorious stars.

People tend to not think that God is relevant today, & sometimes I think that non-believers don't see God in our lives because we're still taking the glory for everything that happens. If they just saw how He saved us from this happening, or He did this, or He came through in this area of our lives, maybe then they would see that He is actually present in my our lives. I need to stop taking the glory. "It's a sad thing when the clouds cover up the stars."

These lyrics are from an old song, but it was a good reminder of how God is really in control of every little detail.

"This days been crazy, but everythings happened on schedule.

From the rain and the cold, to the drink that I spilled on my shirt.

Because you knew how you'd save me, before I fell dead in the garden.

And you knew this day, long before you made me out of dirt."

Thank Goodness He's in control.

So God gave me an amazing revelation this week.

I was reading in Job one day and God gave me the verse Job 23:12.

"I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread."

I wasn't quite sure exactly what Job was saying in this verse yet, but God sure did show me. So I was walking along the lake one day, meditating on this verse that He made stand out to me, and He told me that I should desire His word and being with Him more than my body desires food. I was amazed at the idea, because to be honest, I absolutely love food, I get excited about it. I eat when I'm hungry, I eat when I'm bored, I eat to kill time. I quickly thought of all the times that I eat meals, or go to the kitchen to get a snack, or I eat those pop-tarts in the morning and that ice cream before I go to bed. I was just saying to myself "wow God, that's a lot. I mean I really like food, that's a lot God." And I kept walking, He gave me about 15-20 seconds to really let that sink in my brain about how much that is.

And then I heard Him "Yes Zac, that is a lot. But that's how much I desire you."

I stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn't walk anymore. I was so amazed at this. Our God so desires to spend time with us, but we can't give Him 5 minutes of the day. Our God loves us so intently. I just saw a piece of that this week, and I will never be the same.

Delayed obedience is disobedience.

Well I'm back in Tyler now. Things are going good, just getting registered, work duties and getting a feel for the schedule. My work duty is breakfast prep which means my morning starts at 6am. I always woke up for breakfast anyways so it's nice that it counts as my work duty this time. I also have a new one on one leader which should lead to some good discussion of the old testament, haha.

Well it's only been 3 days so far in this school and God has already started to teach me so much. I am learning how necessary and effective both prayer and intercession is. We absolutely need to be crying out for lost souls, government, people groups, friends, neighbors, and family, etc. It will probably take time and it probably won't be answered the way you think it might, but, God said, "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, then ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you." I've heard that a thousand times, but finally God has gotten my attention with it. I will now start putting it into practice.

I know that you don't understand the fullness of my love, how I died on the cross for your sins...but I would do it all again.

Well I'm back in the States now. I miss the people and my family of course, but I can't say I'm happy to be back. Outreach was awesome. We go to bless other people, but I felt more blessed than anything. We go to teach other people, but God taught me so much. Anytime I do ministry I feel that I've grown and gotten more out of it than what I put into it, but I guess that's how God works.

Anyways, now that I'm back in the states I'm determined not to fall into the American culture of being too busy again. Every time I go to another country it's like God opens my eyes, and then when I come back to America I fall right back into it again. Here in America we are so busy. Period. We are flat out consumed with the so many different things that we have to get done, we never have time to think about other people. Here in America we say "Hi, how are you?" in the same sentence as were passing by someone. Did you know that in other countries when you ask somebody how they are, it's like at least a 5-10 minute conversation coming your way. They actually have enough time to stop and talk to somebody. Just think about all of the people that you ask that question to, and then think about spending 10 minutes with every person. A little hard to imagine huh? God's been showing me how unimportant that list really is. Yes we have to work, and yes we have to go to school, but that's not why were here. In Titus 3:14, Paul is talking about the church, and he says "Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may not live unproductive lives." If we are consumed by the many things that we have to get done, and not focusing on the real reason why God put us here, then the Bible says we are actually living unproductive lives. You may be productive in this life's standards, but very unproductive in God's eyes. God is teaching me why He put me here, and I'm determined to make my life count.

Thank you guys so much for all of your support and prayers. I really appreciate it.

The feet are beautiful, if only they'd go. If nobodys out preaching then how will they know?

Hey everybody this has been our teams schedule for the last couple days and for the next couple days. We go in the morning to teach english at one of the Christian schools here in Chiang Mai. We teach preschool and kindergarten grade levels. Hah it is very fun and they are very smart. Some of the kids parents speak English so there is usually a kid in every class that can help translate to the other children. We also get to teach them new Christian songs, and we act out some different parables for them such as The Good Samaritan and The Lost Sheep.
In the afternoons we go to an orphanage for HIV positive children. Their ages are from newborns to 18 years olds. We play sports and get to hang out with them after school. It is so cool to see them running, jumping, and laughing just like regular kids. From what I understood, they are given very good meds that are actually provided by the government which is awesome. I don't know how they got that arranged, but very cool. So all of the children are very healthy and you wouldn't know they were HIV positive if they didn't tell you. We laugh, run, climb on jungle gyms, play volleyball and pretty much any other thing that they want to do. They're just living life and following Jesus like nothings wrong with them at all. What a blessing it is to meet these children.
At night we are still going to the bars at night. Things have been going very good there. We are building relationships with these women and ladyboys there. My group and I have actually gotten to hang out with them outside of the bars which is very cool. We were able to go to the walking street, get away from the bar environment, and just sit down and talk like normal friends do. She showed us all the best places of the night market and the best foods of course. We are also planning on going to their house on friday so they can teach us how to cook their favorite Thai meal. Please be praying for May and Mei.
So everything is going good except the only bad thing is that there have been people getting sick recently. One girl went last night to the doctor and they said she has influenza so she is wearing a mask and on meds. The other guy that is sick just got admitted to the hospital tonight and we dont know what he has yet. Its wednesday night here and we are supposed to leave friday. They are thinking that we may not be able to get on our flight friday because we have 2 people really sick and we have been around them so much. I'm not sure what's going to happen, but there is a chance that we might have to stay until everybody is healthy again. Just be praying for the team to finish out strong. We know that we are in His hands.

Your love is a mystery, how you gently lift me

So I feel like I should write. So far not a whole lot has happened today. Our team went to help tear down all the decorations from YWAM's 50th anniversary celebration. They said it was going to take about 5 hours, but we got it done in 45 minutes. Thank you Jesus!

We will be going to the bars again tonight. I don't know quite know how to explain the ministry, but these are bars where either prostitutes or human-trafficked girls are forced to work. Sometimes it's easy to tell the difference between the prostitutes and the prostituted because you can tell who actually wants to be there and who doesn't. These are bars where men can go in and talk to girls until they take them home later on. Sometimes it's harder than others, but we have to remember that God loves these men too and they are trapped in sin just like we once were. Personally, I like to start talking to the men about their families, both the wives and kids. This makes them start feeling awkward about being in a place like that. Haha, but I do it in a very loving and Christlike manner of course. :) So anyways we go in and play pool, just talk, and hang out with both the women and the men there. The bar that my team goes into has a couple of "ladyboys" there. These are women that were once men, but have made the changes to become a woman, which is natural in Thailand. Now we can't go in and just start preaching the gospel, you have to build relationships first. People in other cultures, (and even sometimes in our culture) won't listen to what your saying unless they know that you care about them first. So that's what were doing every night we go. We build relationships, show them we care, let our light shine, and pray constantly that God will work in their lives. It's going really well so far. Every night we go they get excited when we get there, and they don't want us to leave when it's time to go. We really have made friends with these girls and a couple of guys. We get to know about their life, family, how they got there and everything. It gets harder to leave every time. Pray that God will open their hearts.

Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. So go ahead and try it, think about someone else today.

We are doing very well here in Chiang Mai. Our team is splitting up in groups to go work at orphanages during the daytime, and we are all going to the bars to hang out at night. The YWAM's 50th anniversary celebration is going on here in Thailand so we will be working and attending the celebration. It should be fun, I guess. So that's what we'll be doing for the next few weeks. Just be praying for our team to show God's love everywhere we go, and also for the 2 team members that are sick right now. Here are a few of the pictures from the Fong village that we stayed in.

My buddy Ram

Children from one of the schools we taught English at

Playing with kids from the Fong village

Kids from the local village school.

I can finally see, that your right here beside me.

So our team is back from 10 days in the village. We were without internet so I was not able to post blogs, sorry about that. We stayed in the Fong village and our team split up in groups of 2-3 and we stayed in host homes in the village. It was so cool to live with these people and learn their culture. Some of the things of their culture included getting up at 5:30am to walk to the market to get food for the day, work the rice fields, took bucket showers, and ate rice for every meal from breakfast to dinner. While we were there our team was able to lead a local church service, we had VBS type week, and we taught english at 2 of the local schools, and worked at an orphanage nearby. We were also able to participate in a parade here that happens only once a year which was a great honor. I think that we were most able to reach them in just living with them for 10 days. We did literally everything with them, from going to the market, eating meals, playing sports and just hanging out. We were really able to let our light shine in this village. We were able to pray for our hostmom before we left, me and 2 of my friends started praying around her and she couldn't understand what we were saying, but she instantly started crying and wanting hugs from us. She didn't want to let go of us. I believe that God touched her right there in that moment. I know that God allowed us to sow some seeds in that village and there will be local missionaries there to follow up on the work that we did. Just be praying for the Fong village.
Anways the village was so awesome, but we are back in Chiang Mai now, and we will be working with the brothels and bars here with the prostitues and the prostituted. Thank you guys for all of your support and prayers!

How my heart skips beats when, your love accepts me as I am.

So I wish so bad that I could have been there for the silent prayer march in Houston for the upcoming abortion clinic, but our Thailand team did have night watches throughout the time that the march was taking place. Here in Thailand the march was from 10:30pm to 4am so we had people get into pairs and we had hour time slots to intercede over the march while it was going on. My time was from 1:30 to 2:30am. It was so amazing. I wish I could have been there physically with you guys, but I know our team was in the battle. God just gave me His heart for the matter and I was able to passionately cry out to Him and intercede for the abortion clinic. Everytime I thought I was running out of things to pray, He would give something else on His heart to pray for. I've never felt my prayers be so effective in the spiritual realm. The hour went by so fast, it felt like 10 minutes, but anyways I know that our team was in the battle with you guys, and I know we really did some damage to the enemy. Good job guys!
I have little time to write, but we are doing many things here in Thailand, but our main ministry to going to the bars and brothels where the prostituted woman are. We will be breaking into groups of 2-3 and going inside to speak to them. It is a very dark and heavy place, just be praying that God will give us strength and the right words to speak so that they will be able to see the light that we carry with us. Please be praying for our team!

That what I have means nothing at all, compared to your glory, oh Lord.

So the stateside outreach is over. We stayed in Houston for about 10 days. We had a couple of different ministry types, but our main ministry was the streets of montrose. We just walked around on the streets from 8 to 1am. We did exactly what Jesus did. We hung out with the drunks, prostitutes, homosexuals, and addicts. It was so awesome to hang out with them. We gave them food and water, prayed with them, and talked to them about God. We went out on new years eve and one guy actually accepted Christ right at midnight, when the fireworks started going off. Hah! what a great way to start out the new year.

We also did a lot of prayer walking around the upcoming Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. They taught us a lot of what goes on in an abortion and it broke my heart. I guess I never really knew how they actually go through with it. This new building will have the ambulatory surgical center on the 3rd floor, making it legal to have an abortion at 9 months pregnant. After hearing more on abortion and hearing that we do this everyday and don't think anything about it, i found that i was angry at myself for not caring about it more. I realized how selfish I was. It didn't really affect me so why should I care much about it?.. God broke my heart for what breaks His, and I felt what He felt. We can't stand for this anymore.

We also took a 12-hour training program on human trafficking supported by Redeemed Ministries. What an eye opener. I understand a little bit more of what these girls go through, and how terrible it really is. We went to see some of the brothels that are right here in Houston. I could talk for hours on this. Just be praying. I have to constantly remind myself that God is bigger than this.