Josh's update from Africa 12/31/11

Hey Guys! 

 

Freaking amazing here! I'm loving it. We got in to juba on the 27th and then took a land rover to Yei. It was supposed to be a 10 hour ride but it only took like 5. it was crazy! The road was so bumpy it was so fun haha. I'm loving it here though. We are staying on the YWAM base in Yei. We get our schedule on monday for what ministry is going to look like, so for now we're just building relationships with the people right around the compound and on base. 

Right now we're in town at an internet cafe. The town is crazy! People everywhere. Although it feels different because it's not my home in america, it definitely feels like home here already. It has been so much fun to be able to connect with some of the kids while on the compound. They taught us a game that is kind of like hockey combined with volleyball (ish). You hit a puck back and forth with sticks adn try to get it to go high in the air. It is so much harder than it looks but is seriously so much fun! I am also learning how horrible I am at football (soccer) because I get worked by kids who are like 10 years old. haha. 

We're going to be doing some water projects while on base here. We're hoping to build some filtration units as well as a rain catchment tank for the base! It's going to be awesome to be able to teach them that! 

Tomorrow we're probably going to be at church all day and preaching. Crazy. Out of my comfort zone right away haha. I'm so excited though.

Whenever i'd tell people i'm going to south sudan I'd get a crazy look like "wow, you're insane." haha. It is really nothing like i imagined thusfar. It is so laid back and relaxed. I honestly feel really safe here. Although I must admit it is weird to see people walking around with AK's haha :)

I'm praying for all of you guys! Miss you a lot. I will continue to try to update whenever I can. We have to pay to get into town and then pay to get on the internet so i don't know how often i'll be able to but i'll try!

Love you all! 

Josh

In about 22 hours I will be on a plane flying over the Ocean to Cali! I will then spend 11 hours in LAX chillin there, enjoying my last in n out burger for the next 3 months. From LA we will be flying out to London where we'll have a day and a half before our next flight, which will be to Kenya. After spending about 7 hours there we will finally fly to our destination!

Freaking A. I'm so stoked. It's finally here. The last 3 months have flown by like crazy. I can't believe we're doing it! All of the preparation is about to be applied. All of the ways that God has completely destroyed me and rebuilt me are about to be used. All of the ways that my life has been changed are about to be shared with people. Man, it's crazy to think about.

The more I think about outreach, the more I realize how faithful God is. Had you asked me 8 months ago what I would be doing around Christmas time I woulda responded "nothin special." Man, would I of been wrong. I'm 20 years old and moving to Africa. This is getting real. I'm not going on a missions trip. This isn't a trip out there to help people and then come back...I'm moving there. For the next 3 months it will be my home, it will be my culture, it will be my life. So crazy.

God is so faithful to come through on things. It's funny to look back on all of the little things that have happened that I never really thought about but have led up to this moment. From me losing my scholarship within days of getting accepted to DTS to God telling me that it wasn't the time for a mission trip (last summer) there have been so many ways that he's prepared me for this upcoming trip. There have been so many ways that he's molded me in such a way that has made me ready for this.

Had I tried to go out and do this being the person I was 3 months ago I have no doubt in my mind that it would have tanked. God's done so much in my life to prepare me for this. Some examples:
-Wrecking the religious mindset I had on my relationship with God.
-Blowing up the box that I had him in.
-Breaking off fear of man
-Breaking off anxiety
-Destroying my frustrations with the church as a whole
-Humbling me.
-Bringing me to a place of complete surrender to him.
-Actually relying on him, not myself.
-Teaching me what simple obedience looks like.

All things that were completely different in me before I came.

It's absolutely insane to think about. Since coming to DTS, I feel like I've become a completely different person. I'm 100% different from who I was on arrival day, yet I'm still the same. My mindset has completely shifted, but I'm still the same me. I'm still the same Josh Morrison. That hasn't changed. My outlook on life may have changed, but who I am didn't change.

I think that's one of the biggest ways that God has rocked me. For the longest time I looked at going completely and 100% in on the whole christianity thing would make me turn into someone I'm not. I felt like if every area of my life was revolving around Jesus then I would turn into someone who was so religious that they never had fun, that they never told jokes or laughed at things, that people wouldn't be able to relate to them. Man, was I wrong. God's totally wrecked me and captured my life, yet I'm still me. He's not in the business of changing who we are...he's in the business of using the person he designed to do amazing things. God made me the way he did for a reason. He made me to be musical...he made me to tell stupid jokes that, 90% of the time, aren't funny. He made me to be super sarcastic. He made me to have all of the qualities that I have because he is a creative God. We are all completely unique...and he's made us to all be our own person. He doesn't want to form us into something we're not, which is so awesome because that means he wants to use what he's made. Man, that's rocked my world to realize that. It's rocked my world to realize how much Jesus wants to use me. I know this may sound like common sense, but it's one of those things that we can claim to know for our whole lives but once it actually clicks it radically changes you. Man, God's so good.

I just wanted to write this one last message as an encouragement to all of you. God wants to do amazing things with you that you can't even imagine. He wants to absolutely demolish the box you have him in on what he can do and do crazier things than we can even picture. He wants to run with you and your passions, afterall, he put those passions in you! He wants to partner with you to create amazing things. Simply let him love you and love him back and the craziness can ensue!

I probably won't be able to post very much while we're over there. From what I hear there are some internet cafe's so I will try to get on every once in a while to let everyone know I'm still alive and maybe share a couple of stories. I may be able to check my email every once in a while so if you want to shoot me a message that'd be awesome! joshmmorrison@yahoo.com is where you can send that!

You all mean so very much to me! I am incredibly thankful for all of the prayers and support that you've given me. I can't wait to sit down with each one of you and tell you about the craziness that went down over there!

Much Love

It's freaking here...

Yeah, it's here. What seemed to be something that was so far away is now here and about to happen. I can't believe we're all leaving for outreach. It feels like it was yesterday that I was dropping my bags on my bed and getting ready to head to the beach with people I had just met. it feels like it was just yesterday that my world was getting rocked because I felt like, for the first time, I heard God's voice right when I asked him a question. It feels like just yesterday that I was sending out an email telling people where I'm going for outreach. Crazy. Now it's here. Wow.

In a few minutes we will see the first team leave. Team Cambodia! Then later tonight we see off a team to the middle east, Orange County, and New York. It's so crazy to think that I won't be seeing any of them for the next three months. Some of my best friends are on those teams and It's going to be really weird not hanging out with them or seeing them until debrief week. Crazy.

Tomorrow we see off team Nepal in the morning and then team South Africa in the evening.

Friday we see Mozambique go as well as our team to Africa! Wooo! So stoked!

Ending with team Japan going out on Saturday.

Please pray for these teams for the next three months! Crazy and radical things are going to happen to, in, and through them!!!

These past three months have been absolutely life changing. I feel like my life has been wrecked in every way imaginable. So many things about me have changed. My outlook on my life and everyone in it has completely shifted. My appreciation for people has grown so much it's hard to even describe. The things that I value are completely changed. It's crazy.

If I'm being completely honest with you, I came out here to DTS with the mindset that I would have a good time. I planned on working on my relationship with God while hanging out in hawaii, to then go out to somewhere in the world and do a missions trip like I've been doing every year since I was in 7th grade. I planned on this just being a generic experience that would put me onto a spiritual high and then I guess I hoped it would continue once I went back to San Jose. Man, was I wrong.

Being out here has completely ruined me. When I say ruined, I don't mean in a bad way. Nor do I mean in a condemning sort of way. It has ruined me in a way that challenges me to take a serious look at my life and everything about it. It has challenged me to question what I consider to be important. It has challenged me to look at where I spend my time. It has challenged me to question what I think is worth fighting for. It has challenged me to look at people and not myself.

It has challenged me to look at my relationship with God.

Yeah, my relationship with God. Oh how that phrase is just thrown around like it's the word "like" being used by someone from California. Oh how it's used in every day language in the church (not meaning the building, meaning Christians as a whole) to describe that 10 minute reading session right before bed. Oh how it's used as a convenience to not do some stuff because it's 'wrong' and to do others. Man, how much of a lie this has been. (All of these examples are ways that I thought of MY relationship with God. Not condemning or trying to judge anyone else here at all. This, afterall, is my blog so I use it to think out loud. haha)

Man, have I been rocked. As Christians we claim to believe that God sent his son, Jesus, to die for us so we could have a personal relationship with Him. God is relational. God seriously loves us and wants to engage in a relationship with us. The problem is, we don't let him. We don't let him love us. Loving us doesn't mean forgiving us when we screw up. It doesn't mean being there for us when things are hard. It doesn't mean being a lifeline when we really need him. Of course, he is all of these things. He does forgive us. He is there for us when we need him and things are hard. It's just that it's not the only thing he does. He wants to have a real relationship with us.

If I meet someone and I talk to them once a week for like 10 minutes, then we don't have a relationship. Of course, I know them and they know me. We can say "ya, i know them" and likewise they can say the same of us. But is that really a relationship? Of course not. A real relationship means that you are constantly there with them. It means that there is such closeness on both sides of it that there's a constant growing. It's not a one way thing. If we spent all of our energy pursuing a relationship with someone, and they didn't offer jack, then it wouldn't be a relationship. We would be wasting our time and ultimately (most likely) give up on it.

If we would do this, then why do we totally do this to God? I'm so glad he doesn't get tired of pursuing me, because I would have been hopeless a long time ago. That's part of the glory of God. He doesn't stop pursuing you. He wants to have a relationship with you with everything he is. He wants to pour crazy blessings on you. He wants to have such a close relationship with us that he pours his heart out to us. That he shares dreams that he has. That he shares what he wants to be done with us on a daily basis. Of course, to have this happen there's something we have to do too. We gotta let God love us like this.

Man, I definitely planned on just posting about the teams leaving and asking you to pray for them. Thank you Holy Spirit for taking control of my hands and writing all of this haha. So good!

I've been radically rocked by the simplicity of God's love. I challenge you to think about it as well.

Hmmm...

Read it! All of it! I know it's long, but seriously. Read it.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:
"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil."
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

What if Jesus really meant what he said when he said all of this? What if we stopped making it say what we want it to say by saying "well, what Jesus meant was..." What if instead of saying "what he meant when he said" we said "He meant what he said."? Crazy. 


It's crazy when we read his sermons how they were spoken. Instead of breaking it up into sections and then pulling out a section when it's convenient to our circumstances, why not try taking his message for what was spoken? 


What would our world look like if us Christians, who claim to believe all of this, actually lived it out? Actually lived all of it out? I know we're not perfect, but there's gotta be some degree of attempting it. 


Boom.

Two in one night? yup. I'm doin it.

Yup. Two posts in one night. Had to be done!

The last post was just wrestling with some of the stuff we've been talking about. This one is more of an update on where we're at!

I am SO so so so so so sorry that I never sent out an update letting you know where we were financially! I definitely wrote one up and clicked submit, but I guess the internet freaked out on me so the page never actually loaded to post. It has been sitting in my drafts folder for the past couple weeks now. I am so sorry!

We made our goal! Wooo! Praise Jesus! Thank you all so very much for all of your prayers and financial support! It has truly been a blessing to have all of your help throughout this whole adventure! It was truly a crazy way that all of the money came in!

From what I've been told, I have one of the highest numbers of people that have supported me out of our class. I had almost 50 people contribute money to my account online alone! Crazy! I thank each and every one of you for your support!

Something crazy happened the other day. We were on our last day for funds to come in. They needed to go do the currency exchange for all of the teams so they couldn't push back the day any longer. We (as a school) still needed some money for all of the students to be funded (little bits here and there from every team). In class they did an offering (really simple, nothing special). Somehow, 12 thousand duckets (slang for dollars incase that wasn't known) came in from 80 college aged students that do NOT have $12,000 to spare. It was absolutely crazy. I have no idea how it happened, but it was a miracle! Little bits kept adding up here and there. So good! So now the whole school is fully funded with some excess to be able to do more projects out there on outreach! So good!

It's really been crazy to completely and 100% rely on God for finances. Its really awesome to see what ways God provides through this! I know it's your guys' money that comes in, it's just exciting to see the way that God prompts some people who have no idea the situation to give x amount of dollars and everything ends up coming in! So good!

Now, away from money stuff and onto some of the stuff going on with me!

In 11 days my team and I head out for Africa. Wow. It's gone SO freaking fast it's not even funny. It feels like just yesterday I was getting on a plane wondering to myself what the heck I was getting myself into. It feels like just yesterday we were sitting in the class room and I was silently judging the prophecy message in my head. It feels like just yesterday that I sent out my first email telling people that I had put down _________ as the nation that I'm going to! It's gone so fast! It's crazy!


Wanna see a picture of my team? here ya go!

Back Row: Josh, Tara, Liz, Lucas

Front Row: Me, Melodie, Victoria, Lindsay (Leader), Esther (Leader)

Aren't we a boss looking team? Yup. Gonna blow things up (in a figurative sorta way, NOT literally) over there! 

I am seriously SO stoked about heading over there. God is going to do some absolutely amazing things and I can't wait to see the lives that are changed and how our lives will be changed as well. It's going to be such a stretching experience that I can't even imagine all that's going to happen, but it's all gonna be nothing but glory and awesomeness! So stoked! 

There's been a lot of thought about what I'm going to do after DTS. I've really had a passion for injustice develop over my time here. Specifically I want to do something dealing with sex trafficking. It's a topic that has absolutely broken my heart everytime I've heard anything about it. It's an issue that we tend to throw some statistics up about and then turn an eye to and pretend it's not there so that we don't have to think about it. I really want to do something to fight against it. I don't know what it is yet but I'll see what I can do! 

I've gotten an opportunity to come back out here to Kona for 3 weeks this summer. There is a seminar going on about Justice called "Let Justice Roll Down" (Check it out! It's open to anyone and everyone! : http://flavors.me/ljrdseminar) It's going to be awesome! Not sure how I'm going to get out here yet, but I feel like it's what the Lord is leading me to do for those 3 weeks so I have no doubt that He'll provide the funds and a way to do it! 

Something else that has been really put on my heart to do is one of the secondary schools here with YWAM. It is called the School of Worship. It is for people who are passionate about music and worship. It's kind of like a DTS, except it's specifically geared towards worship leading. It's pretty much like a music degree at a University, except there's the whole worship aspect that it's geared around. I've already talked with some people from it and am really feeling like it's on my heart to do it. Again, God's going to provide the funds, let's see how he wants to do it! 

I'm really feeling like God is calling me to do missions long term. He's birthed a passion in me to see lives radically changed and I am praying about how I am to step into that role. I know I will most likely be back in San Jose after my DTS for a season, but I'll have to wait and see where God calls me from there.

There are several visions that I have of starting things up that will drastically change the world as we know it and I would love to have your prayer and blessings along the way! I started this blog to journal about my ywam experience, but it has quickly turned into something that I can see myself using it long term to keep you all updated on the crazy journey that God is taking me on!

Obviously, I am leaving for outreach soon. I definitely don't need an answer any time soon, but I would love it if you would prayerfully consider supporting me long term in the missions field. I feel like this is something God is going to be having me do for a long time, so I'd love to have the backing of all of you and be able to share the experiences with you! If you would like to talk to me more about this or about some of the ways I am wanting to spread the love of Jesus please feel free to ask me any and every question you have!

Also, I have added a spiffy new "donate" button through paypal onto my blog page! Wooo! I feel so smart (even though it's really easy to do, haha)!!! If you would like to support me long term you can do so by donating there! I would love to be able to run with you with the crazy things that God is calling me to do.

I love you all so freaking much! You're absolutely amazing! I can't wait to sit down and talk with each and every one of you about the craziness that happened on outreach. I am truly expectant that it is going to be a crazy experience to share with you!

Peace, yo!

"It's not the question of 'Where's God in the suffering of this world,' It's the question of 'where are we?'"

To start, I want you to think about how you view the world. Really think about it. What do you picture? How to you picture the people in the world around you? How do you picture their living conditions? How do you picture how much money they make? It's really based off of where we grow up and what we personally know.

Now, I'm going to give you a model that really represents the world. It's crazy to think of this outside of our little scope that is the United States:

If we reduced the world to one village of 100 people:

-61 would be Asain

-13 would be African

-9 would be European

-5 would be North American

-16 would be unable to read and write

-80 would live in substandard housing

-39 would lack access to improved sanitation (i.e. toilets)

-24 would have no electricity

-76 would only use electricity at night

-50 would be malnourished

                -1 would die today because of being malnourished

-33 would be without access to safe water

-8 would have access to internet

-1 would have a college education

-40 would live on less than $2.00 a day

-20 would live on less than $1.00 a day

-1 would have HIV

-5 would control 32% of the wealth (and all 5 would be U.S. citizens)

Interesting perspective, eh?

I was working on a really long post about everything that we've learned about over the past couple weeks but I couldn't seem to put into words everything that I'm wrestling with. I seriously wrote out like 6 different posts and couldn't express it. To put it simply; I feel like my world has been rocked. We had speakers that talked about worldview, missions, and injustices in our world. It's totally and radically shifted how I view the world around me. It's totally and radically changed some of the stereotypes that I've held about certain people groups. By this I mean people of different races, socioeconomic classes, and genders. It's been insane to see how many single story worldviews that I've been holding for so long.

A single story worldview is one that we've seen for so long and understood for so long that it starts to become "truth" to us. An example of this is when we think of Africa, we think of poor. We immediately think of an extremely poverty stricken, helpless people that are devastated by aids. I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but I think if we actually sit back and ask ourselves what we think about when we hear "Africa" at least one of those things would come up, if not all of the above. The reality of it is that the idea of this is a single story. There are actually very well off people there and a lot more live happy lives and never struggle with diseases. We've grown up associating the image with everyone there that we've started to think it's what everyone is like.

Other examples of this include things like associating everyone who looks like they're from the middle east with Islam, saying everyone who lives on the "East Side" lives in the ghetto, and if someone dropped out of college then they are lazy. (These aren't necessarily single stories that I was holding, they're just some examples to think about.)

Once people are put in the box of a single story it warps the way that they are looked at as a whole. If everyone who has dark skin is considered "African American," then they've immediately been put into a box. Then that's assuming that everyone who's from Jamaica is from Africa. Heck, Africa is treated like it's a country in itself when it's really a continent of a crazy amount of different cultures and customs.

It's things like this that have been really challenging me lately. Our DTS has been moving away from the internal stuff (hearing God, building our relationship with God, etc) and moving into how we interact with the world around us. So good!

The lectures on Injustices and missions were totally mind blowing. I really could write the longest post ever on this topic. It has really become a passion of mine and I can't wait to continue to run with it. There have been some things laid on my heart to do in the area of injustice and missions that I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, but I'll get more into that after my DTS when I have time to think more about how it's all going to happen.

(This next paragraph may sound like I'm frustrated...I want everyone to know that it's all questions I'm asking myself and thinking out loud [over text] on, so I'm not blaming anyone or pointing the finger at anyone other than myself. If it makes you think too, then awesome! But please know that I am not pointing the finger at anyone other than myself and the goals I have set for myself in my life.)

I'm still trying to process everything that I have learned about in this area...but for now I'm going to bring some facts into the light. These things absolutely rocked me...One thing specifically that rocked me is how little our nation does to fix this kind of stuff. We make so much freaking money in the US it's ridiculous. The average income is around $40,000 per year in the United States. Yet, there are 4 billion people in the world that make less than $2 a day. Since I'm a math genius, my calculations show that they make around 700 bucks a year. My bass amp costs about $700 bucks. Wow. Perspective rocked.

The biggest thing that has been really getting me angry is how much complaining I do about all of the injustice in the world. I sit around wishing that there wasn't poverty. I sit around wishing that there wasn't starvation. I sit around wishing that aids wasn't devastating a huge chunk of the world. I sit around wishing that EVERYONE had clean drinking water. I can blame the fact that there's wrong in the world. I can blame it on crappy circumstances Heck, I'll be honest, I blame God. Sometimes I ask God why he hasn't done anything about all of the injustice. The reality is that we have the means to stop all of these issues. The united states has the money, the manpower, and the resources to end all of these injustices. The US has the power to stop the world sex trafficking. The US has the means to do all of this, it simply doesn't have the willpower. We sit in our wealth and complain that people in the US have more than us. I always compare to the people that have more than me. "If only I had that next better amp." "If only my salary was higher." Reality? I'm freaking rich. I might not be the richest among the rich (our nation, sorry to break it to you, we're all freaking rich.) but in the scope of the rest of the world I'm rich. I've justified this for a long time by saying that I can't help where I'm born. This is true, I can't decide where I'm born. The thing that I can do is that I can decide what I'm going to do with all of the wealth I have. The more I have the more that is expected of me. Boom. This simple line has rocked my world in such a crazy way.

Another quote that has rocked me is what one of the speakers said:

"If God is just, then he MUST judge the western world."

 

 Ouch. That hits hard. How freaking wasteful I have been. How I haven't stepped up to the plate and just sat back and complained about how no one else has done anything. It's really challenged me to do what I can do.

Here are some facts to think about. I'm still trying to process them. It's crazy to think about. It's all too easy to read these and just see the numbers. Just see a statistic that really means absolutely nothing to you or I and really is of no relevance to our lives. I challenge you to read these and apply them to the people you know.

For example:
500 children are trafficked in Atlanta, Georgia every month.

Wow. that means in two months, EVERYONE that I know has been trafficked in one city alone. All of my friends from school, all of my family, all of my church friends, everyone.

Does it seem a little more scary when it's applied like that?

Here's another:
10 million children (minimum) are prostitutes in the world.

That's 10 cities the size of San Jose where EVERYONE is a prostitute. and these are all kids. It's sickening to think about. Yet it's a reality. I know each and everyone one of us would go crazy on someone if our (well, eventually mine, I'll be able to completely relate when i have kids some day) children were in prostitution. So why do we ignore it when it's someone else's kid?

Continue reading for more:

2 billion people live on less than $1.00 a day

4 billion people live on less than $2.00 a day

5,000 children die every day from diseases related to dirty drinking water

500 children are trafficked in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) every month

14 million children are aborted every year

200 million women in the world are missing because of selective abortions and neglect

300,000 child soldiers in the world

                The average age a child becomes a soldier is 7 years old

The average Chinese factory worker makes $7.00 a month

20 million AIDs orphans in the world

70,000 child-headed homes (both parents died, children raise themselves) in South Africa

15.4 million refugees in the world

10 million children are prostitutes (this is a very low estimate) in the world

200,000 people are killed every year for their faith in Jesus

400 million Christians are persecuted in the world

It's all too easy to just look at these as statistics or numbers. The reality of it is these are people's parents. These are people's children. These are friends and relatives of people who are really living in these conditions. These are friends and family dealing with this suffering. These are friends and family dealing with these tragedies.

After reading this post, look at the statistics again. Do you have a little bit of a different perspective as you read?

If we reduced the world to one village of 100 people:

-61 would be Asain

-13 would be African

-9 would be European

-5 would be North American

-16 would be unable to read and write

-80 would live in substandard housing

-39 would lack access to improved sanitation (i.e. toilets)

-24 would have no electricity

-76 would only use electricity at night

-50 would be malnourished

                -1 would die today because of being malnourished

-33 would be without access to safe water

-8 would have access to internet

-1 would have a college education

-40 would live on less than $2.00 a day

-20 would live on less than $1.00 a day

-1 would have HIV

-5 would control 32% of the wealth (and all 5 would be U.S. citizens)

It really makes me want to do something about this. Really, change is possible. It doesn't take a president that promises "change" to make it happen. It doesn't take any mediocre "occupy" protest to change it. It doesn't take anything crazy. It simply takes people stepping up saying enough is enough and actually doing what they can do to change our world. It takes people stepping up saying that they're done with mediocre and want to use what they've been blessed with to truly make life better.

I'm in. Are you?

Okay guys, this update is gonna be sups long. I apologize for the length, but please read the whole thing! filled with a ton of stuff!

God's been doing absolutely crazy transformation in me since i've been here. He's been breaking down the walls i've had set up in my life even towards Him. It's crazy! I had no idea how dead my faith has been back home. Jesus didn't die for us so we could go to him when we needed something. He didn't die for us so we could spend 15 minutes a day doing a quiet time and say we got our jesus fix in for the day. He didn't die for us so that we could go to church on sunday and then youthgroup in the middle of the week and call ourselves christians. It's been absolutely crazy how mediocre my faith has been and how much he's been revealing that to me! It's awesome at the same time because it hasn't been in a condemning sort of way. There's nothing condemning about that realization because there's strait up redemption in the blood of Jesus! It's been so flippin awesome learning what it's like to walk with Jesus on a daily basis. I always looked at people who were "in tune with the spirit" and "walking with jesus" and thought they were freaks. I stereotyped them as the typical charismatic Christians who were strait up crazy. I know that sounds harsh but that's honestly where my mind went every time I heard someone say they heard the voice of God or started saying that God gave them a word for someone. Oh how flippin wrong I was! He's been breaking down every stronghold I've had in my life in that area. Prophecy? I thought it was bull. Boom, he broke that off by putting someone in my life that strait up spoke prophetic words into me that were so true but he never knew. Crazy. haha. God's been doing so much work to reveal himself to me. It's so amazing walking with Jesus daily! I'm learning and working towards getting to a place where it's just dialogue with the holy spirit. It's not like a "ok, i need to go pray and see what's going on." it's like walking through the day just having conversation with him and it's awesome! Sounds crazy, I know, but its strait up real yo! It's been confirmed through so many things too...like I'll be like "ok, holy spirit, what do we do today?" and he'll say "tell this person this." and i will and come to find out it's EXACTLY hitting their heart with something going on. And specific stuff too...so it's not like just general broad stuff that could hit anyone. It's so freaking crazy!

Longest paragraph of life. sorry. haha

He's also been putting crazy passions on my heart for the future too. Like...I really want to finish school but who knows when that'll happen. I feel like God is telling me that there's so much more to life (for me) than school right now. This not to say that every christian needs to drop school and do missions because that's definitely not the case. God has some people in the situations they're in because he's going to use them in absolutely radical ways where they're at. I've just definitely felt it put on my heart that schools not for me right now. Gonna start living life on one way tickets and see where that takes me and what God does to change the world through that.

Life's just so much more fun and interesting when you're rolling with Jesus! It's so much crazier when you have no idea what's next to come haha. I'm loving it. So good!

This past week our speaker was talking about the bible. So simple, yet so much revelation through it! He focused on 4 of the miracles jesus performed:
1. Water into Wine
2. Jesus feeding 5000
3. Healing the blind man
4. Raising Lazarus.

The point of us looking into these miracles (that past week in class) was not to focus on what Jesus did, but who the bible is trying to tell us he is through them. It was to take a look into the character of Jesus. It was to break down some of the stereotypes that some people may have of Jesus. Homeboy wasn't some strict dude that brought rules or regulations for us to live by. It is so crazy to realize all of the opinions that I had about Jesus that I didn't even realize I held. I've totally grown up learning about Jesus' love and grace and everything, but I never realized how fun he is. I kind of kept him in the box that the world makes for him and didn't even consider him to be as great as he is.

Another thing that was completely blown up by this was the realization and confirmation that Jesus is more than not wanting people to go to hell. Jesus is so much more than a get out of jail free card. Jesus is so much more than that. He doesn't want me to know him so I won't go to hell, he wants to know me because he loves me so much that he wants to have a personal relationship with me. He wants me so that i can experience the fullness of the great and unimaginable things that he has for me. It's so flipping awesome when I think about that! It's so flippin glorious that it's not a fear based thingou. He's not abt fear. He's not at all about being there to avoid condemnation, he's about being there because he loves and cares about me on such a personal, intimate level that he wants to walk, laugh, dream, and do work with me! So good! It totally gives the faith a different perspective when it's about love and not fear. So good!


Okay, let's do this now. haha I got goin and coulda gone for a lot longer on that because it's completely changed how I look at my faith. Now let's dig into these miracles!

I encourage everyone to go onto biblegateway.com and read along with it, because I'm going to sum up what hit me, but there's so much more great stuff in there! The passages can be found in John 2, John 5, John 6, and John 11.

Okay, first: Water into Wine.
Boom. Who says jesus isn't fun. Think about this. Jesus rolls into homeboys wedding. Homeboy is almost out of drink for his guests. In that time he could be sued for everything he has if he runs out of wine. All of the guests could literally sue him for whatever he has if he runs out of wine. Jesus tells them to fill 6 of the bottles that are full of water used to wash people's feet with. Srsly?! iknorite! Then, he turns them into wine. Not just wine, but the best wine that the master had tasted. Do you realize how much wine jesus made there?! I'll tell you. 120 gallons. Picture 120 things of milk full of wine. That's what jesus did. Who says he isn't fun? Jesus knows how to party. Also...think about this. He made wine...what do we drink for communion? boom. wine. Next miracle.
(P.s. He also called his mom "woman." I think i need to follow by his example...ok maybe not.)

Feeding 5000:
Boom. tons of peeps following Jesus. They're hungry, Jesus wants to feed them. Phillip comes and tells him it'd be a buttload of cash to cover the costs. Pretty much tells jesus "we could never fundraise for this." (remember this miracle next time you want to go on a missions trip but it's gonna cost a lot.) Jesus tells them to collect what they have and he'll do work. He feeds 5000 men. That's excluding women and children. Lets be honest here; that's like 10000, pushing 12000 people. Jesus feeds 12000 people with 5 loaves and two fish. wtflip?! If we believe in jesus, and claim to follow the bible, why doesn't this make us freaking excited?! Why aren't we jumping for joy at the thought that jesus took absolutely nothing and created something huge? . Again, think communion. He first made wine, now he made a ton of bread. Correlation? you tell me!

Next, this part rocked me big time, after they ate they tried to make jesus king and he fled. He then tells his disciples to get into a boat. A storm came. A freaking crazy storm. They were like 4 miles out at sea when this sucka hit. Boom. It was a sketchy situation. That's what happens when you listen to jesus. It's not all pretty rainbows and glory when you follow him. Sometimes he's going to lead you into a situation where you have no idea what is going to happen and what the outcome is going to be. He doesn't call us to sit in our little comfort bubbles and live a pretty little life. He calls us to listen to him no matter what he calls us to do. No matter what the storm that hits is he calls us to be faithful to him. Crazy. That rocked me big time.

Third miracle: Blind man.
So...jesus is full of rules eh? (not to you, just to the world in general). Yeah, I call BS. this miracle is a huge slap in the face of the pharasees. Do you know what the pharasees were? they were self-righteous religious people. We've always heard them to be like rulers of the jewish faith but they were more than that. They were any jew that claimed they knew all of the answers and that they were better than others. okay, here's what happened. Jesus purposely did this on the sabbath. The pharasees had so twisted the sabbath into such a religious thing that they made specific rules regarding how much your coat could weigh that you wore on it because anything over their limit was "work." Crazy. Jesus coulda waited to do this till sunday (their sabbath was on saturday) but instead he chose to do this, and let them know he did this, on the sabbath. Boom. He totally smacked the self-righteous religious people in the face with that. It really made me think...how often have I been that self righteous religious person? How often have I talked about someone and had one of those "we need to pray for them" kinda talks but it's really just me sitting in my self-righteousness. Crazy. Boom. mind-blown. That's not what Jesus is about, so why do we make him like that?

Fourth miracle: Raising Lazarus from the dead.
Man, this one rocked me hard. This miracle shows so flipping much about Jesus it's ridiculous. It also smacks me in the face with something that I am so guilty of doing way too frequently. To give the back story, One of Jesus' good friends is named Lazarus. We can see that they are close friends by the verse John 11:3 where it says "So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom toy love is ill." So it's a good friend of his. Jesus responds by saying "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Lazarus did end up dying, but that's not the end of the story. Jesus raised him from the dead. What a sign of the greatness of Jesus. Dang.

There are a few things that really hit me about this miracle. First off, when Lazarus initially died, two people came to Jesus and said "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (John 11:21 and 11:32). How many times have I done that? How many times have I just looked at the situation at hand and blamed God? How many times have I honed in on only one aspect of the situation and then acted like it was all God's fault? I'll tell ya, way too many times.

The next thing that hits me about this miracle is that it shows how Jesus felt the full range of human emotions. Shows that he was fully human. On multiple occasions it says "He was deeply moved." In one place he wept. boom. Jesus knew what it felt like to lose somebody. He felt the whole range of emotions so he knows what it feels like to mourn. That completely blows my mind. It blows my mind that he knows how it feels. It blows my mind that he knows exactly what I'm going through when I feel like life sucks. He knows exactly what it feels like. Man, how personal Jesus is! It's so ridiculously awesome.

Isn't it ironic that his first miracle was at a wedding, and his last was at a funeral? haha, kind of cool to look at.

There's a pretty long update for ya'll. There's so much more stuff I wish I had time right this very second to write about. I shall attempt to provide another update on what's been rocking my world soon.

And by the way, Thank you all SO MUCH for all of your support! Craziness happened, and  I ended up being fully funded! So much came in from the randomest places and I am fully funded for outreach. Wooo! Thank you guys! Praise Jesus!

Much love to you all!

Fellas and ladyfellas

Hey guys...sorry there hasn't been a fat update lately. It's been really busy and i'm working on putting one together. It's coming, and it's going to be glory!

Real quick, I just wanted to ask you guys for some major prayers today. Our deadline for the outreach funds is tomorrow (the 23rd) and i am still in need of about $1000. God's crazy and awesome, so he's going to make it happen! If you could please keep it in your prayers that would be fantastic! If you would like to donate some you can online at:

https://apply.uofn.edu/OnlineAppDocs/OnlinePayment.cfm

then fill in:
Morrison
Joshua
joshmmorrison@yahoo.com
jan 25 1991
DTS - Community Transformations
sep 2011
then check "Student Outreach"

Thank you guys! Seriously, anything would be a huge blessing.

Love you all! A big update is coming your way that will hopefully rock your world! It's been rocking mine lately so yeah!

Peace, yo!

Support Video!

Hey guys!
I will be sending out another update tomorrow full of stuff that has blown me up so far this week! I just wanted to post a quick video that my team and I made! It's a support video for our team, and will put faces onto the team so it's not just the "Africa Team." It's 8 other normal people just like you and me! Woot flippin Woot yo!

This past week has been crazy. Every single day I am absolutely blown away by the greatness of God and how He has been revealing himself to our school. Strongholds in our hearts have been demolished, hearts are being transformed, and new life has been emerging all over the place!

It is amazing to me how personal God is. He loves me on such a close, intimate level that he does what he needs to do to show it! Craziness. This past week has been full of ways that he has reached out and pulled off hardness on my heart. So great!

The topic in our classes for the week is the Holy Spirit. I never realized how much I diminished this! I've always just brushed it off to the side as something that's there but not all that impactful. God's hit me with crazy revelation about it! Do you realize that the power that strait up brought Jesus back to life is inside of us? The power that Jesus used to perform all of the miracles he did is inside of us and wants to have an active, communicative relationship with us?! Crazy! These are some of the passages that have jumped out at me lately:

"...and i will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells in you and will be in you." (John 14:16-17)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses..." (Acts 1:8)

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the father. Whatever you ask in my name, this i will do, that the fatehr may be glorified in the on. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:12-14)

These things have totally changed the way I look at my relationship with God. It's not a distance thing. It's not a thing that I strive for and hope to possibly have something that's acceptable to God come out. It's a relationship where we walk side by side with God because he has sent his power and spirit into us. The holy spirit isn't just about signs and wonders either, it's a strait communication line with God! This is the part that I had never really taken seriously. The personal level that God wants to interact with us is so awesome! I even have some stories about how he has done this to me personally!

Yesterday was absolutely crazy. Someone from the community sat in on our class. I had met him a couple of times before when we were out on the town so during the break I went back and started talking to him. He was talking about how he wants people to correct him if there's areas of his life that are lacking or off. We decided that we wanted to talk more so after class we would grab lunch and dig in. I went back to my seat and I felt like God told me to talk about John 15 with him. That passage is about Jesus being the vine and God being the vinedresser. It talks about how if there's areas of our lives that are dead he will cut them off. Not in a threatening sort of way, but in a way that will produce growth. It also talks about how our strengths will be pruned back so they can be even more effective. I was stoked to be able to talk about this with him!

This is where it got crazy and God really tested my faith.

After I closed my bible from skimming John 15, I felt like the Holy Spirit told me "Hebrews 11." I thought to myself "hmm...that's strange. I don't know what passage that is I'll look it up real quick." I opened my bible and immediately the Holy Spirit told me "Close your bible. Do NOT look it up. When the time is right I will tell you and you will open it up and just start reading. It will be exactly what is appropriate for the situation." I admit, i panicked. I was like whoaaaa what the heck is going on here. What if it's wrong?! and then I just got this assurance that it'd be right, so I just let it be. I was still freaking out on the inside because that's such a scary step to take out in faith. What if it wasn't God telling me that? What if it was just me trying to imagine a glory story to tell later? I was definitely freaking out.

Class got out at 12 and we went down to grab lunch. We started talking just about the bible and Jesus and everything. It was then that I felt it laid on my heart to bring up the passage from john 15...so I did. We talked about that a little bit and it was pretty cool. I expected the Hebrews passage to come back up right away but it didn't, so I was a bit nervous. We got talking about faith. He made a reference to this passage in the bible and said "I don't know where that is though." Instantly I felt this voice inside me say "Okay, GO!" so I opened my bible to Hebrews 11. I closed my eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and just started reading. Boom. It was the passage that he was talking about. The exact words. CRAZY! At that point I felt like my faith had risen. We kept talking about stuff ranging from several different topics. The word from the Lord about Hebrews 11 was definitely an encouraging lifting of my faith, because as the conversation went on it started to get into some views that were definitely off of what the bible was saying. Every time that something like that would come up I would pray a little prayer in my head that simply said "Ok, God, go for it. You know I need ya right now." Boom: a scripture reference would come into my head. Sure enough, it was exactly what needed to be said there. This happened like 6 times! So crazy!

Crazy story number two:

The other night I was sitting outside talking with a friend about some stuff that they had going on. I was mainly listening and asking questions, trying to let them work through it. At one point I felt like God gave me a word for them. I closed my eyes for a second, looking like I was intently praying. What was really going on inside me was absolute panic haha. I was praying "is this you God?! is this you God?! Please tell me if it's you! please tell me if it's just me!" (picture that but speaking like 1000 words a second). I had this overwhelming feeling in my chest so I figured I would just go for it. When I told them what I felt like the Lord wanted me to say I instantly knew it was not just my words but his. We prayed about it and then the Holy Spirit totally moved in and it was an overwhelming feeling of it! There was major breakthrough on the situation at hand and God totally gave them a clear word on what they were supposed to do! So crazy!

This is one of the strongholds that God has been breaking down in me! I wrote about prophecy a few posts ago and how I said I am definitely NOT prophetic. There has been major breakthrough in this! It's not like I'm getting visions and stuff from God, but he's really breaking down the fact that he speaks through me personally!

One of the passages that I have really been digging into lately is 1 Corinthians 12. This is the one about Spiritual Gifts. I always looked at this as one of those things where if you had it, you had it. If you didn't, then you didn't and that's just how it was. Totally not the case!

(I'm going to share some of the revelations I've experienced through this passage, but i definitely encourage you to open it for yourself too and see what the Lord says to you!)

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the spirit of utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills." (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

I always looked at it like some people have one of these, some have none, and that's just the way that it is. Not so much! It talks about one spirit that gives all of these. That spirit is the Holy Spirit, which lives inside of us as Christians. It also says that the Holy Spirit apportions to each one individually as he wills. It also says each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. God totally smacked me in the face with the revelation that the Holy Spirit gives all of us all of these! To some, there may be strengths in certain areas and some people may tend to receive one more than the others, but it's not like a one and done sort of thing. The Holy Spirit will throw one of these out there for the situation at hand! If some prophecy is needed, then it will be given! If tongues are needed then they will be given! If a dash of healing is needed, then it will occur! If a pinch of discernment fits the situation, then he will give it! I had never looked at it like this, and it's crazy that God brought this into the light to me!

The biggest thing that hit me was that I had a stronghold against these gifts. Too many times I have seen people fake them and not be honest about all of them. God totally broke this stronghold down in me! That is a story for a later day though ;)

If you keep reading in this passage it says "But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And i will show you a still more excellent way." (v. 31). You never know what Gift God wants to shower upon you! We can't just sit back and expect that we don't have a certain gift because it isn't placed at our feet in our idleness! Earnestly seek after him for gifts for his glory and you never know what will happen!

That's just a couple stories of the crazyness that has gone down since my last update. So good! I'm really excited to continue on this journey and grow with Him through it! Woo!

I have some crazy exciting news in regards to outreach! Well, the journey to our outreach location haha. Our planes got booked, so praise Jesus for that! We will be heading out for Africa on the 23rd of December. From there we will fly to LA, then from LA we will be flying to London. (This is the exciting part.) We get in to London very early Christmas morning and then have a 23ish hour (i believe) layover in London! We will be spending Christmas in London! So crazy! haha! From London we will fly into Africa. We are so excited!

With that exciting news we also have a couple of prayer requests! First off, we don't have a place to stay in London yet. We are praying for a connection to be able to leave the airport and be able to store our things and spend the night at. Please keep this in your prayers!

We also need quite a bit of funds to come in for our team to be ready to go. I don't have the exact number on how much we need, but I know that I still need about $1000. Our target price for outreach is the cealing of $6000 each. We didn't expect this, but through contact with the team over there we found out that they went in and had set their budget way too low. It costs a lot more to be over there than we had anticipated. If you could please pray for some radical provision from the Lord that would be fantastic!

If you would like to help that would be so awesome! Shoot me an email at joshmmorrison@yahoo.com for the information if you would like to support financially!

We also have another area that we are asking for prayer in and asking for support in! There are several supplies that we are needing before heading over there. We are praying for provision on those so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be appreciated! We are needing:

Supplies:
-Mosquito Nets
-Water Filters
-Hiking Backpacks (for some of the team members)
-First Aide Kits

Childrens supplies:
-Coloring Books
-Frisbees
-Balls
-Jump Ropes
-Spiral Notebooks

If you would like to support us by hooking us up with some of these items please let me know! We have radical faith that God is going to provide with radical provision!

God is so good! Thank you all for all of your support through this whole journey! It has truly been life changing, mind blowing, and I know I will never be the same.

I love you all so much, Jesus loves you all so much, and you mean the absolute world to him!

Stay Classy San Diego

He is either LORD of ALL or Not Lord at all...

Hey E'ryone!

We had an absolutely amazing lecture in class today. It really hit home for me so I really want to share with you guys some of the stuff that I'm wrestling with. If you take the time to read this you definitely won't be disappointed! Strait up crazyness!

I'm going to try to paraphrase some of what was said and use my notes to the best of my abilities. I'll also combine some of the intense revelations that hit me while listening, and even some things that I've been thinking about that other people have said too. Enjoy!

What if we weren't comfortable with where we're at in our walk with Jesus? What if we were constantly falling into such a deeper love with Jesus that the people who seem like radical Christians in today's time would seem like lukewarm followers of Christ? What if the level of radical-ness was ever increasing in such a way that we didn't limit it to taking one day a week to eat lunch with a homeless guy?

These are just some things to think about.

Are we living to achieve a certain level of closeness with God? A closeness that once we reach it we simply put that trophy onto the shelf and then retire? That's definitely how I've been looking at my walk with God. I figured if I could reach a certain level of closeness with him then I would be satisfied with it and then feel accomplished in my faith. The thing is, God wants so much more from us than that. This isn't in an achieving sort of way. He doesn't want us to do more things for him. He wants us to be closer to him. We put so many boxes and limitations on where we think we need to get with God that it's like there's a plateau that we're striving for. Isn't it crazy to think that the creator of the universe wants to shatter that level that we set for ourselves? Isn't it crazy that he wants to be in an evergrowing relationship with us? Isn't it crazy that He wants to help us do things no one else has ever done before? I find that insane!

One of the main topics that we talked about today was revival. The first area was revival of the heart. This means that in our own personal lives we come to love Jesus in an all new way and the fire grows like never before! All too often this can look like this: We decide that we want to try to "get back on track" with God. The problem is that we don't know how to do that...so it lasts all of 3 weeks and then we screw up once and we're back into the same rut that we were in before. Our hearts are completely in the right place, yet we just don't know how to maintain that revival. This is where it requires a life style change. This may mean something different for each person.

When we start to grasp the radical love that God has for us we start to realize how real he is. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. As we draw near to him we start to develop such a strong personal relationship with him. It stops being a religion and turns into a personal relationship. I know that's such a cliche term that is used all the time in the church, but think about this: When was the last time I woke up and simply asked Jesus "What do you want to do today?" When was the last time I was sitting and praying and simply asked "Jesus, please come and hang out with me for a bit." It isn't about this religious routine or ritual when it comes to praying, it's strait up relationship.

The speaker made a point that has really resonated with me over the past couple of days. He said "If God is as good as He reveals himself to be, then it demands a lifestyle change." How true is that? I've totally lived a life of half-ing Christianity by saying I believe something and then only halfway living it out. I've been living for the parts of Christianity that are convenient or what I think will be easy to follow or sounds like the right answer. God really smacked me in the face with that quote. The God of the universe wants to use me to do huge things. He wants to use me to change nations. He wants to use me to bring a revival that may have never happened if it wasn't for me. If he wants to use me like this how can I just get by through life on the bare minimums? How can I "try" to read my bible for 10 minutes a day and then write it off as being a good Christian for the day?

He is truly as good as we say he is. In fact, he is so much better than the best picture that we could ever paint of him. If he is really that great, why has it always been so hard for me to grow in a completely intimate relationship with him? Why has it always been so hard to consistently have a quiet time? It's not that being a Christian is about having a quiet time, it's just the fact that I want to be strong in my faith yet I haven't been putting in the effort to do so.

(This is all stuff I've been wrestling with over the past couple of days. It gets happier later, just throwing out there where my train of thought has been haha)

The speaker put it in a way that I had never thought of before. He said "If the buffet table is so good, why would we willingly leave it?" Bam. Smacked in the face. I've totally experienced God before and I know how good he is and how great relationship with him is, yet I've acted like I could do better on my own. I've acted like I could offer myself more than he ever could. Realizing this was both a little disappointing and exciting all at the same time. It is one of those things that needed to happen in order to move forward. This is where it gets more exciting!

The next topic that the speaker talked about was revival in the church. I've always had the mindset that if I can just get them to come to church then God would make it all happen. Don't get me wrong, he can definitely do that, but the problem is that the inside of the church looks exactly like the outside of the church. By this I mean that I personally have not been a good representation of what the love of Christ looks like. Please don't mis-read this to be me bashing the church. I'm definitely not trying to do this in any way, shape, or form. Christ loves the church like crazy! The bible even uses that love as an example for how men are to love their wives: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."(Ephesians 5:25-27). I am not at all trying to bring down or talk bad about the church. What I'm referring to by "church" is the body of Christians as a whole. As Christians, we are just as broken as the rest of the world is. Our divorce rate is just as high, we have just as many struggles with sin as people who never go to church, and it's all bad. Not saying that you will be perfect when you become a christian, not at all, and definitely not saying this in a holier than thou sort of way. What really hit me is that if we, as Christians, want to be effective and bring people to Christ then we need to look like something the world has never seen before. We need to show the radical love of Jesus because when it is legitimately shown, people can't help but be drawn to it. I've almost turned Sunday mornings into a day where I can "sacrifice" some of my time to come sing a little, pray a little, hear some of the bible, and then pretend like I got my Jesus fix for the week. Does this sound familiar? I know I've dealt with this for a long time so it really hit home. The thing is; Jesus didn't die for a Sunday morning club. There's so much more to it than that! I've been spending way too much time trying to figure out a way that I can creatively word it in order to present it to people if ever given the chance, but what the world really needs is Christians to legitimately pursue God and have the gospel radiating from their lives. This is what will bring the opportunities to tell them about Jesus. Once we, as Christians, start actually living the gospel out (to it's entirety, not just what's convenient), people will come running to it. This is because it won't just be a title. It won't just be a thing to do on Sunday mornings. It will have something so attractive about it that people won't be able to help but want it.

The next area that I've been really challenged in is following no matter what God calls us to do. Following what He tells me even when no one else sees why or how it will happen. Following even when I won't see the benefits of it right now or even in my lifetime. This may seem crazy, but it's a totally biblical concept. The speaker really dug into the story of Noah in a way that I had never thought about.

For those that don't know the story of Noah, I'll recap for you. (Genesis 6) Early in the time of the earth the people had become completely corrupt. Like, COMPLETELY corrupt. Like, today doesn't have jack on it. God came to a man named Noah and told him that the earth was going to be destroyed. He told Noah to build an Ark and gave him specific dimensions for it so he could house all of the species and family that he needed to. Noah obeyed, and his family was saved.

Now let's break down what happened in this story.

God came to Noah and told him to build a boat because it was going to rain. At this point in time, it had never rained before. It had never needed to rain. Noah probably was like "What the heck is rain?" But he was obedient. Even though he had no idea why God wanted him to do this, he still obeyed and did it. If he had never heard of rain before, then it is guaranteed that none of his family or friends had heard of it either. This means he had Everyone telling him that he was insane. People were coming and mocking him throughout every point of this. Not to mention that he was 600 years old when he got onto the ark. That means it wasn't a short term calling from God. It wasn't like today where if we don't see results in a 6 month time period we question whether or not it was God. Would you be able to stick with something that God had told you to do for a couple hundred years without seeing the outcome? What if there was no other confirmation along the way? Crazy. I want a faith like that.

The reason that this story of Noah hit so hard is that he was an example of a revolutionary. God called him to do something extraordinary and he obeyed even though he had absolutely no backup and everyone was against him. The simple act of obedience, no matter how hard the task is, will always win in the end. What will I do if I have no backup? What will I do if God calls me to do something that everyone thinks is absolutely insane? What will I do if everyone I know tells me it's a waste of time, money, energy, and my life?

Another thing that we talked about in class was worshiping and giving God praise even when I don't feel like it or don't feel like he's there. If I don't feel like he's there, does that make him any less sovereign? Does that make him any less powerful? Does that make him any less worthy of praise? Crazy. It's not about feelings. All too often I've made it about how I feel when worshiping him. That's not what it's about because at the end of the day, whether or not I get a little tingly feeling in my stomach is pointless because he is still deserving of all the honor and all of the praise.

Have you ever thought about the fact that you will never die? Seriously, you will never die. We get 70-90 years here and then we have the rest of eternity. I'm not talking about the kind of eternity that we've always talked about and just pretend to make a big deal. Eternity like eternity. Forever. Foreverness. Neverending. For all time. Have you seriously thought about what that means? We have 70-90 years where there's sickness and pain, and then eternity after that. What if I was focused on eternity rather than now? What if I woke up each morning asking myself "how can I change eternity?" What if I stopped worrying about my petty problems today and tried to do whatever I could to forever change how eternity looks? Another question: What if I was more concerned with eternity than my own ego? How would that change what my days look like? I know for sure that I would put aside the stupid fear of telling people about Jesus. Those nerves that come from being afraid of rejection would sure as heck be gone. If God tells me to do something and I question it and argue with him, what good does it do? Do the angels ever question his authority? No? Then why should I? I had never thought about it like that before. Wrestling with it.

Another topic that was brought up is the bible. You may be thinking "duh, he's doing a discipleship training school"...But let me ask you something. When was the last time you actually read your bible for fun? Not in quite some time? True story, I'm right there with ya. It's one of those things that I've always felt like "I need to discipline myself to do." How sad is that? The way that the creator of the universe wants to talk to me personally is something that I have to "try to make time to spend 5 minutes reading." That's just crazy. I've been totally rocked this week about this. What if we were addicted to Scripture? What if we were addicted to getting to know God on a deeper, more personal level? What if it wasn't boring to read the bible? That's one of the biggest lies that satan has convinced our culture of. He's somehow made us, even as christians, think that the bible is boring to read. Let's break that off! Satan knows that if we actually got a hold of a love for the bible and used it then it would bring revolutionary changes to our society as we know it.

Something that the speaker said has really stuck in my head today. The question was "How do you maintain zeal?" and the answer was "You are fooling yourself if you think that you will be in love with Jesus 20 years from now if you don't make it a daily effort." Wow. At first I fell right back into how I thought for a long time that if I just keep trying then I will continue to love Jesus. Not the case. This isn't about a religious routine of having to read the bible every day. It's not about a required amount of time you spend reading it. It's about the daily effort to walk with Jesus through the day. To daily read his word and grow in knowledge of him through it. To live life with him and walk with him, not trying to walk to him. It's not a book that we have to try to read and somehow interpret. Imagine sitting down with C.S. Lewis and having him explain one of his books to you from his perspective. From the perspective of the author. You would completely understand it and even understand it in ways that you would have never done on your own. The bible is the same thing. God wants to walk with us through reading it and bring revelations about it to us. Not secondhand revelations, but intense revelations firsthand. The deeper of an understanding we have about God, the more we will love him. The more that we love him the more of an understanding we will get about him. Do you see the cycle? It's about putting my heart 100% into it and going all in.

The last thing I'm going to share is what we've been talking about when the topic of "holiness" comes up. I've always looked at holiness as things that I don't do in order to be holy. Man, was I wrong. It's not a list of things to do and not do. That's religion. That's a set of standards that we have to maintain in order to be loved. That's not what a relationship with Jesus is. Holiness is about pursuing God in such a way that obedience comes naturally. It's not about the things we don't do, but the things that we do do in order to grow in our relationship with Jesus.

Here's the order of revivals that we've been talking about:

Revival of the heart --> Reformation of lifestyle --> Revival of the church --> Reformation of the church --> Revival (world) --> Reformation (world)

There's some of the stuff that's been going on in my head guys. I hope it impacts some of you as well! Please hit me up if you'd like to talk more about anything! I would love to!

Jesus loves you more than you know, just let him love you,

Josh



I also want to leave you with some quotes that I wrote down from class:

-"So many people want God to hear what's on their hearts, but so few want to hear what's on God's heart."

-"What if we, Christians, stopped drawing ambiguous lines to get as close as possible to them and instead started pursuing God?"

-"We are the only ones that question God's authority."

-"If we want to be a revolutionary then we need to walk in integrity in every area of our lives."

-"We think we can break the law, but really the law breaks us."

-"Political Correctness is a giant demon over the land. All that it is is a compromise."

-"Look at the consequences of sin, does that look like freedom to you?" (About just letting people have the freedom to make their own decisions without saying anything and pretending to turn a blind eye to it.)

-"Truth is outside of your opinion."

-"If we can't stand up now, how will we ever expect to later?"

-"Not because I feel like praying, but because it is about God."

-"99% of our struggles would be solved by gazing at Christ"

-"Lord of all, or not Lord at all."

-"Don't be influenced by circumstances...Own them."

-"Did Christ wait for man, or did he save them?"

-"Are you willing to go when no one else will go with you?"

Jesus Makes it Rain!

Hey guys!

Real quick, just wanted to give e'ryone an update on the cash situation!

Our whole team is covered for the deposit! God is so good! He came through and provided money for several people so now we can all get our plane tickets and be locked in for outreach! He is so good!

Thank you all for your prayers and your support! Huge things happening here! Woot!

Quick Request!

Hey guys!

Quick Prayer Request!

I need to have about $350 come in by tomorrow for support...If you could keep it in your prayers that God would reveal how he's going to come through with that I'd really appreciate it! I know he will provide, I'm just trying to be patient on how he's going to do it!

Thank you guys! If you can help with this i'd really appreciate it!

If you want to send some you can go to:
https://apply.uofn.edu/OnlineAppDocs/OnlinePayment.cfm

And put this information in box by box:
Morrison
Joshua
joshmmorrison@yahoo.com
jan 25 1991
DTS community transformation
Sep 2011
Then check the box that says "Student Outreach"

Thanks guys! If you could please send me a facebook message or email telling me if you send some i'd appreciate it because they don't notify me.

Much love guys!

Josh

Two updates in two days? Yup!

Hey Guys!

You get another update in as many days! Sweet huh??

Today was absolutely crazy. We had a new speaker come in again this week and totally blew off any restraints and limitations I had on another area of my faith.

This speaker is talking about prophecy and prophetic visions. It's a crazy concept that I never even gave the slightest amount of credit to in our day and age. I totally looked at that as something that happened a long time ago and was seriously a bunch of bull crap today. Sorry for being so blunt, but that's where I was at and what my mindset was going into the lecture today.

Man, did he blow my mind on this one.

He started talking about people having the gift of prophecy and I definitely sat there with 100% doubt in my mind. I kept thinking "wow, this is going to be one of those topics where it's pushed on me and if I don't believe it then I'm wrong." I know that wasn't the right mindset to have going into it because it really is a biblical concept, but that's where I was at.

He asked people to raise their hands if they've ever seen visions from God. About half of the class raised their hands and half didn't (i'm a math genius, huh?). We then went outside and got into two lines. One line was people that thought they might have the gift of prophecy and the other was people who didn't. I went into the ones that didn't. He then told us to pair up with someone of the opposite group and we'd learn about it and practice it. I grouped up with someone and figured we'd try it. I still had complete doubt that this was going to work. I figured it would just be stuff that was so general that anyone could somehow apply it to their lives and make it seem like it was real. I really wasn't excited about going into this day.

What he had us do was have the one who didn't have the gift of prophecy pray that God would reveal things about themselves to the ones who say that they do have the gift. In disbelief, i went along with the exercise and figured it'd just be over soon. My partner then sat in silence for about 30 seconds and then just started unloading stuff on me. It was absolutely insane. Everything that I have been struggling with while being here, including all of the stuff that i have told absolutely no one was brought up. It wasn't like general stuff either...it was super specific and strait to the point about what I was dealing with. It seriously blew my mind. There was absolutely no way that he could have known any of that stuff and because there were only two of us there was no way it could have been a trick of any kind. It's so crazy!

We then switched and he had me try it. I definitely do not have that gift, haha, and i'm okay with that. That's one part that I really liked too; they didn't stress that everyone must have it. Each one of us is given certain gifts that we can use for the glory of God.

Absolutely insane stuff going on guys. I can't stress enough how freaking real God is. This whole thing is absolutely blowing my mind about who I thought God was before. It's absolutely blowing my mind on the little box that I had God in. He's so freaking real and personal and it's so awesome to think about. Seriously, this is legit stuff. Crazy.

I also have a few prayer requests for you all!
-team unity: we have a solid team, but just be praying that we could grow even closer together because we are going to be a family for the time we're there.

-Our fears: Please pray that there would be peace in us as we go over there. Strait up walking into a broken nation so we're a little nervous, but like i said we know God has our backs!

-The hearts of the people to be prepared ahead of time. There is a lot of "christianity" over there, but by that it means animism mixed with christianity. so prayers that their hearts would be open to the message that we bring!

-finances: several of us on the team still need quite a bit of money for outreach. we're doing everything we can, and we know that God has it for us he's just trying to figure out which pocket it's in right now, it's just waiting for it to come in.

-Supplies: We have several things that we need to get before going over there. Shots, water purification supplies, etc. So if you could pray for provision that'd be awesome!

-And above all else: That God's will be done while we're there. It's crazy and exciting, but we don't want it to just be an exciting trip that we go on. We want to have God use us to forever change eternity because someone (or many people) come to the lord!