Eternity in my heart

There are a lot of things I could talk about. But theres somethings that if you were to ask me about I'd want to talk forever. A lot of these things are what is found on my heart. Sometimes I like to wonder how big my heart is, like how much could I fit inside of it. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has put eternity in their heart." If you really think about it for a sec your jaw might drop. Eternity in our hearts? How can you fill something that is made up of eternity?

You might have realized this in your own life, that one day something or someone can be the biggest joy and love of your heart. But the next day your love is a little less and then you look for something else to make you feel that joy. I've experienced this type of cycle before but with other things its like my heart clings to and is sticky to them. These are things and people I care for and trust, who give me happiness and comfort, who I want to spend all my time with. All these experiences can make my heart feel confused.

But! There is one who I know who is able to fill that eternity within my heart. God created us with eternity because He is the only one who could ever fill it. Its wonderful to know that God didn't just make our hearts so we could fill it with tempory things but made it so we could have the eternal one Himself in us. This is the ultimate satisfaction of our hearts.

I'd have to admit this isn't always my experience but it does give me hope. Each day I want to make it my prayer that my heart is open and soft to the Lord. That each moment the Lord would infuse and saturate me more until He fully gains my heart.

Welcome Back

I'm back in Austin and all I can say is that this was an awesome trip.

In Ann Arbor we had the Lord's Table in the morning. We weren't the only ones visiting. Some were there from China, South Africa, and England so that we even outnumbered those from Ann Arbor. After the Table we all had lunch together from a takeout Asian food. It's awesome that the church is so small that they always eat together after. After, we got a tour of The University of Michigan. It might be the only school I've seen that could be better than UT so far.

After we headed to Chicago. On the way we stopped at the sand dunes off of Lake Michigan. This was really cool. The dunes are tall and steep and by the time you climb one your breathing hard and you can feel your calves burning. At the top we decided to run back down them and you go so fast that you trip and tumble in the sand. We got a video of that.

 Chicago is a huge city and the sky line looks like it stretches miles, especially with the Willis Tower which is one of the tallest in the US. The first thing we got to see was the meeting hall of the church there and had dinner in the apartment of a couple that lives next to the hall. This was a relief being our first healthy meal of the trip since we've been eating fast food the whole time. The next day we did a whole lot of stuff. We took a water taxi to downtown Chicago where there is a huge pier full of restaurants, museums, and carnival rides all on the water. I'm a food junky and there I got to try my first Chicago dog. These things are good. Covered in mustard, caramelized onions and spicy peppers these things hit the spot. Then that night we played some ultimate frisbee in the park and watched people light their fireworks for 4th of July. The next day we hit up downtown again and got to see a lot of Chicago's architecture. We even went in this building and climbed to the top to look at the awesome views of Millennium Park and the lake. In the park we took our pictures at the giant bean and listened to a free concert for a bit. Lastly we stopped at a cupcake store where we ate cupcakes called Surgarbliss and then got to try famous Chicago deep pie pizza at Piquod. This pizza is good and I wouldn't have minded eating it three more times if we had the time.

The best parts of the trip though were all the blending we got to do with the brothers and sisters in different localities. These saints poured out and took care of us taking time off from work even to spend their time with us. I felt really shepherded and now these ones are on my heart. Even spending time with the brothers I was traveling with was good. The Lord used that time to relate us and open the way for Him to blend us more. I'm looking forward to more trips. Man, I left stuff out and have so much more I could share but this blog is way too long.

Road Trip

Since Tuesday, a group of friends and I have been driving up from Austin to the Northeast to help a friend move his family to Cincinnati, Ohio. The first place we stopped was in Memphis, Tennessee for some BBQ and then we drove up to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky where we camped and got to see the caves.

After that we made it to Cincinnati where we unloaded his stuff and got to spend time with some people we had known from the church we meet with in Austin. They showed us around Cincinnati and I got to see a lot of the city. Cini is an older city and you can tell it has a lot of history in its buildings but some parts even reminded me of Austin because of all the coffee, music, and hippie’s you see.

Afterward, we headed to Fairborn, Ohio where some friends showed us around the Air Force Museum. Inside I even got to touch the actual bomber that dropped the atomic bomb in Nagasaki during WWII. Later we spent the day touring Wright University in Fairborn and then relaxed at their house where we had a cookout. The cool part was after dinner we all just sat together and talked. Two friends from Holland we're also visiting and they shared some of their testimony about how they met the Lord at a young age. It's cool to see that even in a place across the world the Lord finds ways to reach people my age. Even a friend that drove up with us shared his testimony about how spending time with other christians in homes and meeting with them in college was the reason that he was still with the Lord today.

It’s been fun but there's still a lot more of our trip left. Tomorrow we're heading to Ann Arbor, Michigan and then we’ll spend a few days in Chicago before we head back to Austin.

Morning Revival

This past week I went to a Christian conference in Austin. It was really enjoyable and I got a chance to see and learn a lot about my Christian life. One of the brothers who shared at the conference gave a message about the importance of morning revival. Morning revival simply refers to the first few minutes of your day when you contact the Lord. You can pray, sing, read the word, whatever you feel allows you to touch your spirit and contact the Lord the most. When you do, you'll find that whatever may happen throughout your day you'll be able to draw supply from that time you spent in your morning with the Lord. This morning a hymn I prayed really helped me to enjoy the Lord. It’s called Lord, keep my heart open and soft toward you.

Lord, keep my heart open and soft toward You.
Lord, draw my eyes to see nothing else but You.

Whatever may happen,
I know You want to gain my heart.
Though I may not understand,
Just keep dispensing into my every part.

Make me a believer
By looking at You.
Standing on Your Word,
Faithful and true.

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/ns/288#ixzz1QOYcHZUi