I know I have not had an update in a little while. I'm in Montana right now, going to be heading to Wyoming tonight. We might get a chance to visit Yellow Stone National Park. Anyway, I have not had cell phone service in most parts of Montana, which hasn't been awful, but at times it has been frustrating.

Overall, Montana has been very frustrating. It seems like ever since we got here we've been having trouble. Some of it has been our own fault, some of it has just been stuff that has been happening.

So far:
1. We were late to one show because we switched time zones and didn't realize it. The show did go on, but it was frustrating.
2. Our DVD starting skipping at one show (awful!!! we corrected it several times then noticed the DVD was actually stalling in the player) We checked the DVD and there was a deep scratch on it.
3.We are having a really hard time finding hotels within our budget (and a few of the ones we have found have been disgusting: sheets stained with spots of yellow, hair all over the pillows, beds and towels ((and we suspect they weren't all hairs from the head either...)), getting stuck in smoking rooms and everything stinks to the high heavens, etc,)
4. I almost ate a fly. Gross.
5. The glands in my neck randomly started swelling up. My airway wasn't blocked off at all, but it hurt to swollow for a few days. My throat was never sore and I never felt sick. I just had swollen, tender glands. Weird.
6. Our DVD started skipping again at another show and I looked at the DVD and it had slight scratches on it, (but the other two were fine) and we are now wondering if the DVD player is scratching the DVD's that are put into it.
7. We got a flat tire and....

I just realized that it's time to check out of my hotel, so I need to go but I'll tell more later, I just want to metion that God is still watching over us despite our troubles.

Who is this God?

Have you ever stopped to consider
Or to stand in childlike wonder
about the composition of the mighty mountains
or the reasons behind them?
Have you ever tried to count the stars
Or contemplated their positions in the sky
and marvelled at their distance?
Have you ever stood on the banks of an ocean
and wondered at it's depths
or of the creatures hidden in its icy blue?
Have you ever noticed the glory of a field of dandelions?
Have you taken in the specks of yellow and gold
Scattered across the purest green of creation
and realized that this simple beauty is considered a weed?
Do you see the hand of your creator
Or feel the stir of the Holy one
When you look around you?
Do you see the image of your God Stamped on creation?

Who is this God who molds the mountains?
Who is this God who breathes the stars?
Who is this God who cried the oceans when we fell from His glory?
Who is this God who makes beauty from the weeds of our lives?
Who is this God?

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? NO, IN ALL THERE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS! For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35,37-39)

Now I am entering into the time where I begin to feel a little down because I miss home. Michelle and I are in Spokane, Washington where her family lives and her home church is. I have a longing to be at home with my family and to go to church at Life Bridge. I miss all of my friends. I miss the things that are familiar to me. I am so happy to be a part of the Camfel Productions team and I believe this is where God wants me, but I think i'm still holding on to the life I left back in Indiana. I have a hard time saying it, because I think i might be wrong (and who wants to be wrong?) that Valpo may not be a part of my future. I don't even know if returning home for the summer is in my future. I can't naked claim that God is talking to of because I don't know if it's Him or just my imagination making up random feelings. Whatever it is or no matter where I might end up I know God is in control and I choose to trust this leading if it is Him.

Throughout this part month I have been reading though the gospels. I started with the book of John, them Matthew, Luke, and now I'm reading through Luke. One thing that i have noticed quite consistently about Jesus is that He often went to a private place to pray. I was thinking about what it would be like to follow Jesus' example of prayer... Of how that would impact my relationship with God. I feel that I would maintain a much closer relationship with God... But i find my self curious, even baffled... what did Jesus talk with God about? I know Jesus gives us an example of how to pray with the Lords Prayer and we see one of Jesus' own prayer in John 17, but I want to know is what does a man who had an unbroken relationship talk with God about. Maybe someday I will reach that point and then I will know. :-)

Life is a learning Experience

Well, I'm travelling through Oregon today and tomorrow. Oregon is a very pretty state and I've gotten to take some pretty pictures.

I think working with Camfel is one of the greatest things I will experience in life. I've been learning a lot about many different things.

Here are a few of the things I have been learning since I've been with Camfel:

1. On a California freeway, driving 5 miles per hour over the speed limit means you need to drive in the slow lane. Yes, You read that correctly....
2. California Cows are not happy cows (refer to previous blogpost).
3. It rains bugs in Oregon, and using your windshield wipers does not clean the windows, it just smears the bug guts (greatly reducing visibility).
4. Gas stations don't like it if you try to pump your own gas in Oregon.
5. I have some of the greatest friends and family that anyone could ever have.
6. I can do more and I am capable of more than I thought I was.
7. I can read in a car, but if I try to write, I will get car sick.
8. God is still giving me amazing opportunities to shine His light and I desperately want to be used.
9. God always responds to prayers for protection and to be taken deeper with Him, but sometimes the answers to those prayers produce situations that aren't always pleasant.
10. God's love is so much deeper and wider and higher and stronger and so much more profound than I could ever imagine.
11. I feel like I'm living the Barbarian Way (a book by Erwin McManus :-) )
12. I'm spoiled to be a part of Life Bridge Christian Church.

And finally... for the time being (since it's getting late)
13. I have never felt more like I was in God's will than I do at this very moment. I believe very strongly that He has me working here with Camfel for a reason. I don't fully know what that reason is, how long I'm going to stay, or where this experience will take me. But I know this is where I am supposed to be right now.
...
Anyway, I hope we get to do a show in Portland, Oregon sometime this semester (we're just passing through Oregon right now, no shows) because the Imago Dei Community is in Portland (The church Rick McKinley is pastor for)

Rick McKinley authored a book called This Beautiful Mess, it's a truly beautiful look at God's Kingdom on Earth.

Well, it's late, I'm sleepy.

Happy Cows do NOT come from California

It's true, and this is why:
1. The air is filled with smog. Gross.
2. California has been breaking out with fires because it is so dry, which leads me to the next point.
3. Practically the entire state is on a water freeze.
4. The grass is dry and brittle.
5. It is sooooooooo hot here.
6. They often have to stand on steep hills.
7. I saw one field that the cows were living in their own filth.
and
8. I have yet to see one cow that is singing.

All jokes aside, my tour with Camfel Productions has pretty much officially started. I will be traveling through Northern California for the next few days and be doing shows, then over the course of the next few weeks I will be in Washington and Montana, I think.

I have been reflecting on what God has been doing in my life since I've been here.

The bus ride up was not pleasant, but I had great opportunities to show God's love. Giving fruitsnacks to a mother whose children are hungry, giving someone who was thirsty a botle of water, letting someone borrow my cell phone because his battery was dead. Multitudes of conversations... I think I may take the bus back home just because of the way I now see that God was moving then.

I also had my parents throw away everything that I didn't take with me on tour. (pretty much everything I own) So I'm finally getting rid of possessions... Like Jesus told the rich young ruler to do.

You know what, I just thought of this.. I remember writing a blog a year or two ago where I expressed a desire to get rid of everything I own and live free and travel for Jesus.... It might have been a person journal entry.... Either way, I want to find it because I find it ironic that I'm doing that now and I want to see exactly what I said. I feel that that journal entry might have been slightly prophetic.


Anyway. It's getting really late and I need to get to some sleep.