Tag Archives: Gospel

Cheer Up, Champ. (HUGE eye roll)

It never fails.

If ever one is sad, depressed, stressed, or just in a tight spot and around enough Christians, someone is going to comfort you by quoting Jeremiah 29:11. It will go something like this:

Hey there, Champ, (side hug, shoulder pat, or playful slow chin punch). Listen… I know things are looking down right now. But I have full faith that you’re going to get everything you ever wanted and more. Remember what the Bible says in Jeremiah 29: ‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ So, cheer up, champ. God says you’re A-OK.

Wow. So, basically, God intends good things alone for my life. Pretty encouraging stuff.

But it’s kind of a lie.  Continue reading →

There By Van : A Missions Story

As we approach our next mission trip, I want to share how my heart for missions has grown. I have gone on many mission trips, near, far, and at home. I’ll write about all of them. For now, here are a few of the trips I’ve taken inside American borders. This is an account of how youth group missions changed me.

Appalachia
I was in a youth group as a student only during my senior year. My youth pastor, Brad, asked me if I wanted to go on a mission trip to West Virginia. There would be girls and adventure, so I thought that would be cool. I was working at Publix, so I tried to make the payments myself. Being 17, I was a little slow to pay most of the trip off. But Brad told me a few weeks before we left that someone in the church wanted to pay for me to go. I had no idea why someone would do that, but I was grateful. Once I was there sleeping in the abandoned school and Continue reading →