Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 2/29/2012
I am in Swaziland. A land of rolling hills, beautiful sunsets, vibrant people, poverty, disease, and a since of urgency. If something doesn’t change now with Swaziland it potentially will cease to exist by the time I’m 63. This change starts with us…humanity stepping in and fighting to preserve this nation and the people! This is not why I am writing this blog though, merely an update and something to think about.
I was sitting outside the other day watching the sunset fall behind the hills and I was overwhelmed with the question…are you fulfilled? With the race, with your decisions, and most importantly…with life. No matter what you believe or where you are in life there is one thing we all long for, fulfillment. We all want to be fulfilled with life and what we do. But, we look to things to fulfill us, making them idols, that actually end up just leaving us as empty or emptier than when we started. I have found that there is NOTHING on this earth that will ever give you true fulfillment. The ONLY thing that will give you complete and true fulfillment, that will sustain you, is Jesus.
Jesus is the one and only thing that the more you get of the more freedom you receive, the more peace you receive, the more joy you receive, the more fulfilled you are, and it all comes from Him. Everything else in this world will control you and put you in chains when receiving more and more of it. Heck, if you drink water in excess it will kill you! Think of any addictions, drugs, alcohol, clothes, food, etc. It starts off with just a little because it only takes a little to “fulfill” the desires. After a while the need for more and more is in order to be “fulfilled” because what used to “fulfill” doesn’t anymore. It starts to become a necessity rather a past time.
Even within Christianity people fall into the trap that the “Christian lifestyle” will fulfill them. Going to Sunday School, Church, Wednesday night Bible Study, mission trips (national and international), working fulltime ministry, going into fulltime missions, getting married, being “good” parents, just being a “good” Christian. Guess what, THAT WON’T FULFILL YOU! Christianity will NOT fulfill you UNLESS you are pushing after Jesus and not the religion itself. Think of all the pastors that are burnt out, struggling, hating their life. The same with youth pastors, worship leaders, the “good” Christians. Think of all the divorces in the church, all the infidelities, all the nastiness, just within the church. We are supposed to be the people living in for Christ and yet we live like the rest of the world, why? Because, we are looking for fulfillment in everything but Jesus. Our lives should fulfill us, our spouses, our jobs, our careers. But they will only fulfill us if we are finding our full fulfillment in Jesus. In finding that fulfillment in Him we will be able to be fulfilled in our lives.
Back to the original question…”are you fulfilled”? Yes, I am. It’s not because of the world race, it’s not because I’m traveling the world, its not because I’m called to become a pastor, it’s not because I have an amazing family, it’s not because of anything in this world. It’s because I’m living this relationship with my Lord and savior that we Christians call life. Hear me out, the World Race will NOT fulfill you, money will NOT fulfill you, marriage will NOT fulfill you, being a Christian will NOT fulfill you, having a good career will NOT fulfill you, unless you are finding your true fulfillment in Jesus. Without Jesus you will never be fulfilled in anything you do on this earth…good or bad.
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 2/3/2012
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
-Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Update:
So, I haven’t blogged in about two months. To my supporters and people who follow my blog I am sorry. I am in Mozambique right now at a boys home in Beira called Kedesh. I am leaving today 2/3/12 to go back to Maputo to visit other teams for the week before heading to Swaziland. We are heading into the last month of Africa for us, and the last four months of the race. Wow, how the race has flown by.
Back to the blog:
This month has been so good to be with the boys here at Kedesh. They are amazing! They are so full of life and love. For me personally I have felt pretty dry. I feel like I am in a spiritual desert. A couple days ago I was reading through Ecclesiastes and when I read chapter 3 I was blown away.
There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. There is a time for a spiritual desert and a time for a spiritual jungle. There is a time for everything. This is so comforting. To know that everything has a time and place under heaven and the Lord works in seasons is so refreshing. Our God is not a God of stagnation. He moves like the seasons and has a time for everything. He is good in all he does. The verses that hit me the hardest are 12 and 13. “I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God”.
Why do we feel as though God wants us to be miserable on this earth? Why do we feel as though we can’t enjoy our life? God wants us to be happy! He wants us to enjoy his creation! Why? Because He loves us more than we could ever fathom. This verse is not saying to throw your inhibitions to the wind. God is not saying to indulge in gluttony. He isn’t saying just do whatever you want to do without Him.
He is saying that He wants us to be happy. He wants us to enjoy life!
“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”.
-James 4: half of verse 14
Our lives are way too short to not be happy. To not enjoy what God has blessed us with. He wants us to live every moment for Him. For even though there is a time for everything in life, even though there will be times of trouble, times of sadness, times of darkness…With Jesus those times will be short and few for Jesus brings peace, joy, light.
There is a time for everything under heaven. But with God we have joy, we have happiness, we have life! If you are living for Christ please….please….please hold onto Ecclesiastes 3! Now there is a time and season for EVERYTHING ! Know that God wants you to have joy! He wants you to be happy!
I don’t care who you are or what you’re going through. GOD LOVES YOU and cares for you more than you’ll ever know! Life is way too short to harbor in on the “nasty” things. God wants you to experience true joy, true love! Take hold of it and live in it!
These kids at Kedesh do this everyday. They have more joy and love in their lives and they really don’t have a reason to. They don’t have what we think brings joy or love. But, they actually have the one thing that brings true joy, true love, true happiness, true life! They have Jesus Christ!
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 11/6/2011
As Albania comes to an end and Romania begins I am in a constant state of change, improvement , self-realization, and learning that life has seasons much like mother earth. This past month has been very interesting. I have been asked to become a co-squad leader with a wonderful woman, Kristen Aperfine. We have basically been “squad leaders in training”. We have been doing the daily duties of squad leading, visiting teams, and learning as much as we can while the current squad leaders are here.
As we transition to this new role I am learning to adapt to this new season in life. My role as a world racer has now changed. My expectations of just going on the world race have once again been shaken up and am now expecting something completely different. This comes with more responsibility, a different focus on ministry, and a new season of life.
When they first asked me if I wanted to do it, I was really close to saying no. It came with more responsibilities, a different outlook on ministry, and to sum it all up…something I didn’t sign up for. I asked if I could have some time to think about it and pray and they said of course. As I started to ponder about everything I was constantly reminded of Paul and his endeavors. He traveled all around preaching the gospel and encouraging his brothers and sisters in Christ.
I wanted to say no but I knew this is what God has been preparing me for. I want people to know the true love of Christ. I want people to be free from the life of slavery. I want people to be completely free. I have such a heart for all people but I want to encourage my brothers and sisters while on this race. I want to travel to each team and bring the freedom that Christ brings, to each individual on the race. God has been preparing me for this new season in my life. Just as the leafs fall off the tree so does life constantly prune us. We constantly have change.
Along with this change and this new responsibility I am constantly reminded that I am still 3,272 dollars away from being fully funded. I still have till December to be fully funded and I know God is going to provide. I know that the Christmas season is coming up but I ask if you can support me I would appreciate more than you’ll ever know. This season of life has been full of learning/growth. I am able to experience things that I never thought I would be able to experience. I am getting the opportunity to share the gospel around the world!
But, just as the seasons change so will this season in my life. I will soon be home, prepared to move into the next season God is preparing me for. I am excited for that time but I know that this season at hand will yield more learning and growth in my life and ultimately for God’s Kingdom. I ask that if you feel called to support me in this journey please do so. I pray God continues to pour out His Holy Spirit to all who read my blogs. I pray that you encounter a love so real, so powerful that you won’t be able to deny His presence in your life! Thank you to all who have already supported me and continue to support me with finances and prayers. I pray for you constantly and I am overwhelmed with the love and support I receive.
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 10/6/2011
As the end of month three nears, and we start the trek to Albania, I am revisited by what all has happened and what’s to come.
So what’s happened, you may be asking? Have thousands of people come to Christ?! Did you pray over bread and fish and Jesus multiply it to feed a bunch of people?! Did you pray over a dead person and they become alive?!
No….but what has happened has been even more impactful than that. I have spent 3 months with a group of people who have frustrated me, surprised me, and loved me. I have been to Ecuador, where ministry looked completely different everyday. I’ve been to Peru, where I got to minister and be ministered to by the youth of Laredo. And now, I have been to Bolivia, where I have been with 17 of the cutest, brattiest, craziest, lice infected, loving orphans I have ever been around.
So what exactly has happened? I am doing what God has called me to do…what He has called us all to do. Love Him with everything and THEN love my neighbor as I love myself (Matthew 22:37-40). I’m not doing this for a show, or to try and earn my way into heaven. I’m not doing this because I “have” to because that’s what God says to do. I am doing this because God has transformed my heart so much that I actually love people!
Too often we want some big production from God. We feel that if something “crazy” doesn’t happen then something is either wrong or we have failed somehow. John 10:41-42 says, “Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John said about this man was true. And in that place many believed in Jesus”.
John never performed some miraculous sign. He lived in the desert eating locust and honey. His clothing was made from camel’s hair. And yet he preached and believed like none other. He loved people so much! He welcomed any and everyone and baptized thousands of people with water.
This makes me wonder….If I never see a miraculous sign, will that be ok? Will God still be God? Yes! I don’t need those signs to believe. God is still the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is Good….He is Love!
So what’s to come? I’ll tell you exactly….Love, grace, forgiveness, and even more love. Not just the rest of this trip, but for the rest of my life. God has called us to love Him with everything and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
I don’t care who or what your neighbor is. God has called us to love. I don’t care about sexual orientation, social class, skin color, religion, job title, how “good” or “bad” a person is. God has called us to love.
You know what would be a miracle? If we befriended homosexuals, drunkards, addicts, people of other religions, people who have had abortions, with no other intentions than to love them. We befriend them because we truly want to, because we truly see them as friends and not projects. That when we talk to them about Jesus they don’t feel condemnation but they feel love, freedom, and a person who truly cares for them! The ONLY way to do that is to establish a loving relationship with them first.
The crazy thing about true love is that it can’t be faked. People recognize when someone doesn’t truly care for them. Why do you think so many people feel burned by the church? We are supposed to be the people who follow Christ! The people who show mercy, show grace, who love like no other beings. We are supposed to be the light in the world. Did the drunkards, prostitutes, homosexuals, even tax collectors feel burned by Jesus? Absolutely not! They loved Him because He was the only one who truly loved them!
If we could stop putting ourselves up on a pedestal thinking we are better than everyone because we believe in Jesus, because guess what? That’s exactly what the Jews did. They are God’s people and yet they were so blind that they couldn’t recognize who Jesus was! If we could just love people the way Jesus loved people, how different would our world be?
It’s time to wake up…its time to start living like Christ. It’s time to start loving like Him! Stop pursuing miracles, stop pursuing the gifts of the Spirit, stop trying to make numbers in church, stop trying and just start loving. When we can start doing that then everything else will happen. When we start loving people come to Christ, Jesus presents us with miraculous signs, people are healed, the dead rise, church attendance sky rockets, finances are taken care of, families are made whole, marriages are made whole, people are changed forever!
But this can only happen when we start doing two things…
Loving God with everything…and then loving our neighbor as we love ourselves…
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 9/16/2011
I don’t know what to say…this past month has been so powerful. God has been moving and continues to move. The People in Laredo, Peru have blown my mind and continue to. I have made friends for life and my soul is extremely sad to be leaving.
God blessed me with so much this past month. He blessed me with friendships that will last for life. I got to play and minister with kids. I got to worship in downtown Laredo into the night. I got to preach on a Sunday to a hungry congregation. We got to lay hands, pray, and watch while the Holy Spirit rip into people and heal people physically, mentally, and spiritually.
I got to go pray for a man, Cesar, who has been bed ridden for the past 2 years, this December, when he had an accident at work and became paralyzed. He is 39 and has the joy and life of a 21 year old. We had to kind of sneak into the back of the house but he was so excited to talk to us. He had the biggest grin as he told us how much he missed talking to people about Christ. Later, he talked about how he had been having dreams about him walking and believed that God was going to heal him.
I was honored to have the opportunity to pray for him, with 3 stellar men in Christ, and watch as he was guided up to him sitting up. I watched this man for the first time in almost 2 years move his legs under his own power! He had been able to twitch them randomly but at one point he pointed his right foot up 3 times in a row and he smiled like he never had before. He had been crying but he cried more. This man was slowly getting his strength back into his legs!
I got to hold Cristhian (along with 4 other teammates), my brother in Christ who is only 19, tonight as he wept for his family because they don’t believe in Christ and he thanked God that we had come down here and how he would continue to pray that God would bless us and that we would never forget him or his family. He said he wanted to be the man God has called him to be. He used google translator to type this all out and came up into our room at 12:30am to read this to us. He wept as he asked us to pray for him and his family. He didn’t just cry…he wept! We all wept!
This is life. I am not “playing missionary”, “playing Christian”, I am simply living the way God told me to, to love Him with everything and to love my neighbor as I love myself. The simple words that He spread throughout the gospels.
I am now in Bolivia with my team. I miss Laredo, Peru more than I ever thought I would. I really feel as though I have left my family. But I know God has used the time in Peru and will continue to use it throughout my life. Now I am about to go with my team to meet our new contact. We get to work with orphans and I am super excited. This is life. This is how I want to live everyday…loving God…and loving my neighbor as myself.
I’m done “playing” Christian. I’m done “playing” missionary. I am simply living life….
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 8/24/2011
“ Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
-Matthew 6:25-27
Update: We are in Peru now. We have been here for little over a week and it’s a beautiful place. The people are nice, the scenery is beautiful, and the Lord is just so evident.
So the past couple days some of my teammates and I have watched a number of movies. A couple of us have come down with a little stomach bug and its kept us in the bed (we are all getting better now). So needless to say I haven’t been too productive. Its crazy how the Lord works through even my unproductiveness. It was hard for me to sleep last night because my mind was racing. There were two movies we had watched earlier that I couldn’t stop thinking about. The movies were The Last Samurai and Days of Thunder. Two movies I have seen countless times but took new meaning in my life last night.
Now, I can’t tell you everything about the movies, that would take forever, but I’ll tell you what I noticed. Lets start with The Last Samurai. At one point in the movie Tom Cruise is captured by the Samurai and after months of being with them he had this to say, “They are an intriguing people. From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such discipline”.
What powerful imagery! From the moment they open their eyes, they devote themselves to being the best…to the perfection…of whatever they do. How attractive is that? This kind of dedication and pursuit is so attractive that people can’t help but be attracted to it. There is a beauty and simplification to it that makes you wonder why you would ever want to operate any other way. Now hold on to this imagery and I’ll come back to it.
Watching Days of Thunder there is a part when Nicole Kidman yells at Tom Cruise after putting both their lives in jeopardy. She goes on to exclaim, “Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac. Nobody knows what's gonna happen next: not on a freeway, not in an airplane, not inside our own bodies and certainly not on a racetrack with 40 other infantile egomaniacs”.
Wow, what a sobering reality. We have absolutely no control over our lives. We constantly have this view that we have so much control. We feel as though we can command the sun to rise and fall. However, in actuality, we can’t even control when we go to the bathroom.
Where does this put us? We are in a world that demands us to have control of our lives. The funny thing that control does is cultivate the spirit of fear. When we start to “think” we are in control we ask ourselves, what do I have to do to stay in control? We are moving out of fear, not of love. We are afraid that we will somehow lose control as if we have control in the first place.
So, what do we do now? Do we give up? Do we throw in the towel? Do we sit on the couch, eat chips, watch football, and say we don’t have control of our lives so we aren’t going to do anything? NO! That’s called being lazy. Some even say, but God said not to worry about our lives, or to worry about what to drink or eat, or the clothes we wear. He said He feeds the birds in the air and we are much more valuable so we don’t have to do anything. Do not the birds of the air even have to go find food? If you haven’t read the parable of the Talents please do (Matthew 25:7). But I digress back to the topic.
We don’t have control over our lives. We can’t add a single hour by worrying. This is why we need to devote everything we have to what we do, to our families, friendships, our jobs (I’m not talking about putting in 80 hrs a week. I’m simply saying when we are there, we are truly there and working hard), and most importantly our relationship with God. Do you think the Samurai realized they weren’t in control? Yes, and they welcomed it. They made sure they devoted themselves to perfection in whatever they did because they wanted to be as best prepared for whatever was to come. This should be how we operate.
“Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath”.
-Psalm 39:4-5
This is the beauty of it all. We have to come to a place of release. We have to release this control in our lives. When we want to control something we start moving out of a place of fear and not of love. This is what makes God’s love so amazing. He DOES NOT control us even though He can. He gives us the choice to follow Him.
We need to get to the realization Tom Cruise got to in Days of Thunder. We need to truly see what the Holy Spirit said through David in Psalm 39:4-5. Realize we aren’t in control, that our days are numbered, embrace it, and move in that…not in fear but in love. The Samurai didn’t do all these things for fear of the unknown, they did it because they wanted to always be prepared. Don’t freak out that we don’t have control over our bodies, over our lives, over how long we will live. It is a freeing feeling to know that all you have is the day at hand so do the best with what you got.
Live in the joy and peace that is given in the promise of Hebrews 13:5! Know that the Lord will never leave or forsake you. Believe that He is in complete control and in that He will never leave or forsake you. Believe that HE WILL NEVER LEAVE OR FORSAKE YOU! Its extremely comforting when you think about it.
God wants you to move. He wants you to work, to be successful, to love your family, to provide for your family, to be educated, to not have to live pay check to pay check. Its good to have goals in life. Just don’t get so caught up in the ideas of tomorrow when all you have is the reality of today. Every day you wake be thankful. Make a push for perfection in all you do…especially your relationship with God and then with others. Don’t get caught up in the worries of tomorrow because all we have is today. Work hard, play hard, and love even more!
Take a deep breath….relax…..and know that you are beautifully and wonderfully created by the one true God of this world and that He will NEVER leave nor forsake you! :)
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 7/31/2011
So we are starting our third week into this thing called the world race. I haven’t done any laundry yet, I have worn the same thing over and over again, I haven’t gotten to talk to family or friends but a couple messages through facebook, I have only showered a handful of times, I haven’t had my McDonalds ten piece (shout out to Markle) in what seems like years, I don’t get much internet access, I don’t have my own computer, I haven’t stayed a week in one place, and I just found out I leave for 2 weeks to go into the Jungle with no internet access. Team Lamp Lighters has decided to jump into the New Testament and read through the whole Bible over the year. We decided to start in Matthew and I have been eating it up. God is revealing meanings of parables and showing His mercy and unconditional love that He has for me and all who are willing to accept it. There has been a lot that has stuck out to me but there are two verses that have became so real to me. “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” -Matthew 10:39 “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” '½"Matthew 16:25 I am losing my life. I am losing my comforts, clean laundry, diversity of food, internet access, phone calls/texts, being able to talk to my family, being able to see them, being able to do the same with friends. I have given up taking showers whenever I want (even when I get them they are most likely cold and come from a bucket), I have given up the ability to date for 11 months, I have lost the privilege to do what I want when I want……I have lost what I have considered life for the past 23 years of life. Why? Because I am clinging to the hope...to my faith…to the word that Jesus said. He said that if I lose my life for Him that I will find true life. That’s what I want. I want true life. I don’t know what that means. I don’t know what that looks like. I don’t even think it is something I can obtain in 11 months. But I want to start that journey. I miss all the things that have made my life what it has been the past 23 years especially my family and friends. But I know that this is more important. This is the only way I know how to lose my life right now and if that’s what I have to do to start the journey to find true life I will. I don’t want to be like the seed that grew in the thorns in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23). Jesus said that seed is like a man hearing the word of God but is too worried about the things in his life that the thorns, the worrying of everything in life, choke him and make him unfruitful. Do I not want those things that have made my life for the past 23 years? Heck yes I do! I want to see family and friends, I want to be able to do what I want when I want, I want to make money, I want to be comfortable, I want to have diversity of foods, I want to be able to throw my toilet paper in the toilet and not a trash can, I want to take warm showers, I want to be able to hug my mother and give her kisses and tell her how much I love her (you too dad), I want to find a woman who loves me as much as I love her, I want those things……but I am not gonna worry about them. The word says to seek first the Kingdom of heaven and everything will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33-34). The Lord knows my desires, He knows my heart, He knows me more than anyone else ever can and will. He will not abandon me, He will not forsake me, nothing I do in His name will be done in vain. So why worry about it? Why let the worries of life make me unfruitful? So I choose to lose my life. I didn’t know that it would be like this at all. I didn’t think it would be this hard. I didn’t realize how much I would be losing and its only week 3. But, I know this is the start of me finding true life. Whatever that means, whatever that looks like. I know it will be worth it. I know God is molding me into the man He wants and I am willing to be molded. So here I am Lord…..I am ready to lose my life…..because I know You are the eternal life, You are the giver of true joy, You give true peace….and that’s something I yearn for. So here I am……..I am Yours………and only Yours………..
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 7/24/2011
This past week has been crazy busy. We went from Portoviejo, to Manta, to Porto Cayo, and back. I realize I probably spelt some of those wrong as well so, sorry if I did. What a week! We went to Manta to work in an orphanage run by a woman named Pearl. She was born in Ecuador but her parents and grandparents are from the states but were missionaries in Ecuador. She lives here with her husband and they pretty much run this beautiful orphanage in Manta that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.
Then we went to Porto Cayo. It is an extremely beautiful beach town. We worked on a church for two days and ended up spending the night on the beach one night as well as getting to swim in the Pacific Ocean! Who would have thought my first time in the Pacific Ocean would be in Porto Cayo, Ecuador. Then we came back to Portoviejo and went to the trash dumps today.
Out of all of this craziness and beauty God has presented a lot of challenges. First, trying to grasp being gone for 11 months. I am still trying to rap my head around it and haven’t gotten there yet. I have decided to just take a day at a time. Second, on the last day of being in Manta I was told of a girl there who was pregnant and only 13. Today we went to the trash dumps were I was completely overwhelmed. We met families that literally live in trash dumps.
Imagine going to a landfill and seeing people living there. Trash as far as the eye can see, burning, smelling, literally crap everywhere. When I say these families live there I don{t just mean they sleep there. They work there, they eat out of the trash, they literally do everything in that dump. We brought them clean water today and all the kids ran out and all I wanted to do was cry. They are beautiful kids living in filth. Mothers and Fathers unable to give their families even clean drinking water! I cant understand how hard that must be. They EAT from others waste!
In all of this I know God is good. He is! His grace, His love, His mercy, knows no bounds. It doesn’t recognize people as the outcaste of society, as they poor dump families, as the unwanted or untouchable. It recognizes each person as loved by their Father, Creator, Savior! John 3:16. We all know that verse and I feel as though when used it is thought of as a child´s verse. Read is again and let the power of the verse take hold because it IS powerful! I love you all and I will continue to post about what God is doing. I love you all!
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 7/16/2011
So it’s Saturday and we have been in Quito, Ecuador since Tuesday night. It seems as though we have been here for a very long time. This week has been jam packed with meetings, worship, and walking. We leave tomorrow for Portoviejo and I can’t wait! God is so good! I can’t comprehend how blessed I truly am. We leave Portoviejo on Monday for a six hour drive, or “boat” ride, to live on the islands for about a week and then we will go back to Portoviejo for the rest of the month. I am so stoked. My team is stinking amazing and I am so encouraged by them! I again can’t comprehend why I am so blessed but I am. God’s love is so great. I will blog as often as I can and will tell of all of God’s works. I continue to ask for you to pray for me and my team but also for my family. My father has been appointed to be the head pastor at Flowery Branch United Methodist Church, mom is still teaching and still being the sweetest woman in the world J, Carson is still working like a maniac for Zaxby’s corporate and being such an amazing man, Alison is working as a nanny and an amazing wife while her husband, Brad, is working as a part-time youth pastor (more like full-time) and at a coffee shop, and Leenbo is in Kenya doing medical missions and loving on everyone. So I ask you keep them in your prayers because they mean the world to me! I will keep you posted….Adios!
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Posted in General Posts by Nathan Dickens on 6/15/2011
This is something I am horrible at doing.....asking people for support. It is hard to step out of my comfort zone to ask people to support me. I never want to be a burden to anybody and I feel as if by asking someone to support me I am being a burden.
I know that this is not true! God has called me to go on this trip and there is no way I can fully raise the money myself. I am having to lean on God hard and trust that He will provide for me! I know that He can and WILL provide for me. I don't know how or what that looks like but I know that God will continue to bless people to support me.
So now here is the time I ask for people to support me :). I have about $6,500 in my account and I need $9,000 more to give me a total of $15,500. I believe God will bless me with that $9,000 before I leave July 12th. Again, I don't know how but I believe He will. What seems like an outrageous amount of money for me is nearly pocket change for Him.
If 900 people donate $10 dollars each I can be fully funded. If 45 people donate $200 I can be fully funded. If 90 people donate $100 dollars I can be fully funded. If 9 people donate just $1,000 each I can be fully funded! haha I know I said "just" but what seems crazy to me is pretty normal for God.
This is such a humbling experience. I am literally unable to come up with this money. I am laying down my pride for God to come in and move. I can do NOTHING without Him and I pray that He lays on your heart to donate. There is no amount too small or too big.
You can donate by giving a lump sum or by donating monthly, even while I am on the mission trip! Just click the support me tab and follow the instructions. :) Please share with friends and continue to follow my blog while on the race! Thank you so much! :)
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