Home sweet home

Well, I am back in the motherland! The United States is a good place for me to be for a while at least. Many people have asked about my time in Israel and South Africa the past half of the year. Spending 6 months out of the country, away from what is comfortable, and what is familiar has taught me a lot. So I want to bring a couple of things up that have been re-enforced or that I’ve learned for the first time.
Backing up all the way to 6 months ago is a little hard for me to do... but the one thing that sticks out in my mind that I had to deal with is the fact that on the mission field, you NEED to be focused on making Christ the center of your life. There are many distractions and many different challenges that come up because it is just a different way of living than what you are used to. For instance, last spring I lived in a dorm full of godly men. These guys are the type of people that you could go to at any time of the day or night to talk about anything from sports, any problems, to what you were learning from the Bible. In my certain situation was that, that I left America only three days after finals week was done. That meant that I was pulled from an environment where I was surrounded by people that I knew and I was put into an unfamiliar place.
As I look back on this, I am so glad that I went through it. I believe that I am now more prone to depend on Christ in those times of loneliness or isolation. Praise the Lord that He gave me a lot of free time to read His word and to pray.
Another highlight of South Africa was that I had the chance to read through Mark and to see Jesus’ compassion. God was faithful to have His word pierce my heart and to convict me of sin. I realized just how little compassion that I have. I mean I would even go as far as to say that some of the days that I hung out with the children of Lambano, I had the wrong attitude and I was the opposite of compassionate. This allowed me to change my thinking in this area, and even to adjust what I would do now that I’m home and how I live this out.
Moving to Israel for the last three and half months was an opportunity of a lifetime. I learned so much and I am thankful for all of the people who made it possible. My parents, The Master’s College, and the profs (Randy, Bill, Abner, and Ariel, plus their wives, support staff, and volunteers). So many people put in countless hours of work so that we could have a smooth stay in Israel.
I learned so many things, and the ones that I probably have to highlight are I learned just a little more the importance of knowing the Bible, and that means memorization and meditation. One of my favorite times at IBEX was the men’s Bible study that Abner led. We thought that it would be appropriate in the land of Israel to study the book of Hebrews. Studying Hebrews combined with Land and Bible class (our Bible geography class) it was clear that there needs to be an understanding of the Old Testament if you want to understand fully the New Testament. There are many different reasons why this is necessary. We need to understand why God gave a sacrificial system, and how Christ accomplishes everything necessary for atonement. Many times I have breezed by the Old Testament on my Way to read the Gospels, or Epistles, but I learned that I need to know what the Old Testament is all about if I want to get the New Testament. Thanks to our study, I am more convinced that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who is not a fairy tale, who is someone real, is superior to any other thing in this life. I have been encouraged to live a life that honors Christ because there is a rest to come.
Another thing that I have learned is that there needs to be a practical discipline in my life to get things done. This was probably one of the toughest semesters that I’ve experienced, in so many different ways. But God is faithful through it all. We had maybe 4 “free” days the whole semester and I learned to be disciplined in my studies so that could be free on my free days. The work that was put in was well worth it. This semester I think I learned the most academically as well.
Something that many people say when they come back from Israel, and it sounds so cliche, but it is really true, is now when I read my Bible it is like I am reading it in living color, not black and white anymore. After being there and actually seeing the real sites where Jesus worked, and where the Israelites walked so much more the the Bible makes sense.
I really hope that anyone who is a Christian gets the opportunity to go to Israel and experience the Land of the Bible. And if you are not a Christian, I hope you get to go and that you can validate the Bible, and see that this is not a mere ideology that we believe in, we believe in something real and tangible. This has been an awesome year so far, and I’m looking forward to learning more and being sanctified into the likeness of the Son.

I will still be blogging, hopefully with some sort of regularity. Hope to see you soon to see some pictures.