Ringin' in the New Year

You never realize what a life line your internet is until you lose it permanently! But I'm back...at least for the meantime.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. I've been in Kelowna for a bit visiting my family and some close friends. It's been good being back. But I gotta admit that this time doesn't feel like I'm coming "home" to see my family, but instead it feels like a "visit" to see my family. I'm finally growing up! Well, I guess in a way, but I would have to say that it's more like New York has become what I call my home now.
Let me give you a little update on what's been happening at Metro lately. As some of you may know, the fall semester is the craziest, busiest semester of the two (spring and fall). It's so much fun though! We had our halloween week, Thanksgiving week...and then the grand finale: 2 weeks of Christmas! On average me minister to 20 000 kids a week, but in our last two weeks we minister to 40 000 kids! Wild, I know! We give out stockings that are packed with candy and toys for the kids. (The stockings are actually sent from people all over the world who have made them for these kids.) Then the last week of semester is Christmas present week. Yes, we give out a wrapped gift to every single kid that comes out! It's interesting, because one can have two perspectives when it comes to our Christmas weeks. One perspective would be that we shouldn't be giving out gifts and stockings because more people come out because they're being greedy. And sure, that is true in many cases. And there are many families who hardly get gifts or no gifts at all at Christmas and the gift we give them is so special. But then the other perspective you can have on this is that we are doing whatever it takes to get these kids to come out to Sunday School to hear the word of God. Sure some of the kids that come at Christmas come this one time a year, but they are still sitting in the presence of our God. They are hearing his words of hope and love that can rock their worlds and the change the lives of their families. This is what is so important about our Christmas weeks. And it is true that people are more open to hearing about Jesus at Christmas then anytime other time throughout the year.
This semester was definitely a good one. Emotionally it's been my toughest so far. I'm learning (key word: learning) to deal with my own problems before I try to fix somebody elses problems. Amazing that it would take me 21 years to realize I have a problem there! Unfortunately, I'm still figuring out how to deal with it. I'm so thankful I got God on my side to help me!
One of my workers, Raheem, became a Christian this fall. It was so amazing! And I know it was real for him. Of course, he's still Raheem, but he is trying so hard to please God and live right. He's a kid that has no discipline in his life...so often I am the mean one, because I have to constantly correct him and be stern with him. He's learning, slowly. But he's putting forth the effort, and has said after many of our talks that he has thought about what I said to him. He's 11 years old, and taking what I say and teach him to heart. These are big steps for this kid! I constantly have to ask God for wisdom with him, because it can be tough sometimes.
Marvin, the Pastor of Outreach Ministries at my home church Evangel came to visit me in October. That was a lot of fun having him out! We had fun doing a bit of tourism. I was sick for some of his stay which wasn't much fun at all. But we still had fun together.
We always have a Workers Banquet to honor the kids, teens, and adults who volunteer their time to help us visit and do Sunday School. So, I brought two of my three workers (Ayahna and Raheem came. Josh had another banquet he was invited too....one of those once in a lifetime things, so I told him to go to it). They always have lots of fun at the banquets. Ayahna received an award for her Faithfulness. This girls is with me Wednesday nights, Thursday afternoons, Friday afternoons and Sunday mornings. I'm sure if she could she would be with me all the time helping me if she had the chance! She really deserved the award, and she felt real proud getting it. I was so proud of her!
I'm not sure if I mentioned previous to this blog that for Thanksgiving dinner I was invited to one of my family's houses for dinner. My parents actually sponsor their daughter Alexis. It was so much fun being at their house! The food was great. And it was fun with the kids...5 of them! They're all so different and so amazing! I ended up being there from 5pm till after midnight. I had such an amazing time! I ended up having to take a cab home....which took forever since all the cabs were full with people out partying at friends houses for Thanksgiving. I was going to take the train home, but then thought better of it. Not the safest train station late at night out by my projects!
On New Year's Eve, Pastor Will (the Senior Pastor of my home church) invited me and Jill B.(she came as in intern to Metro this fall and will be moving to NYC to work on staff with Metro in February!) to speak a bit on Metro and what's going on there. Talk about feeling nervous up there! But I honestly love talking about what I do. I had to control myself because I know I can start getting so passionate that I could talk and talk and talk about the people and the ministry and God. It's like God has rooted something so deep inside of me that I have to speak about it! It definitely was an honor to get a chance to be up front of my church to speak about what I do and what God is doing through me. I hope to get many more chances to do this!
It's incredible to think that I've already been living in New York for almost 1.5 years. Include my internship and I've been living there 1 year and 8 months. Crazy. I can honestly say that from last September when I moved to now I love what I do even more. I love the ministry I work for even more and I love my site and my kids so much more then when I first started! It is an incredible feeling to be doing exactly what God has appointed me to do at this time. It's been an incredible journey thus far.
I want to encourage each of you in this new year of 2007 to take that next step in your journey with God. He says in his word that if you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. And that's a promise for you. We have enough hypocrytical Christians in this day, and it's time for people who are seriously in love with their God to stand up and be bold in their faith. You see, God never asked for wimps to be a part of his army. He never asked that you be lukewarm in your faith so that you never had to be challenged or ever have to face the enemy's attacks. No, God asked that you either be cold or you be hot. And so with this new year upon us, I encourage you to step out and be that Christian, the Child of God, the Warrior in God's army that you were created to be. To pray harder when you don't feel like praying, to read your Bible - the very Word of God - when you don't feel much like reading it, and to spend that time in God's presence, seeking him, worshipping him, thanking him...even when you don't have the desire. The more you want, the more He will give. The harder you press, the more desire He will let burn in you. So let me ask you this one question before I close this evening: In 2007, are you going to be the man or woman of God who chooses to leave the crowd behind and serve your God boldly?

God has called you - what are you waiting for?