The JZ Report

Bible school...

2010-08-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

It has almost been a here since my last blog post....I ain't gonna lie. It kind of fizzled out, and I just didn't feel like keeping it updated. But something is going on in my life that I really want to blog about.....I'm going to Bible school.

Mixed feelings about that to be honest. I made the decision back in winter this past year. First I'll list two things that didn't sound so good to me about Bible school. 1. I would be surrounded by Christians. It kind of sounds weird at first, but the reality is that God has given me a passion and a love for unbelievers, people who haven't grown up in the Church. I get energized by building purposeful relationships with those type of people. Bible school.....I doubt that I'm going to find much of those type on campus. 2. I wasn't sure that I wanted to go into the "ministry," as some would call it....I'm still not sure! I'm not sure that God has called me to work as a "professional" Christian. I just want to love Jesus and love others wherever I am. I feel like there is so much more power in that in the lives of un-believers. I'm not sure I want the stereotype that goes with pastors, youth pastors, Bible teachers....Bible school students.

You can probably tell from the previous paragraph that I still feel pretty strongly about those two points....reasons I didn't want to go to Bible school. But I'm going.....what's up with that? Basically, I want to know God more. I want to know more about Him so that I can know Him deeper relationally. I believe that the Bible is God's Word. I believe that by knowing it, I can know Him. Now, I understand that one can know the Bible and not know God. The pharisees did this (John 5:39-40). But I do believe that one can't really know God well without knowing the Bible. Some have told me, "Jordan, you already know the Bible, bro." Yeah, I've studied God's Word for a bit. I have some verses memorized. But there is so much I don't know. I don't know how the Old Testament and New Testament really mesh. I don't really know how to connect Old Testament teaching to today. I mean, I probably could come up for some things and teach them to people....but would I handle the Word of God correctly (2 Timothy 2:15)??? I have asked questions to so many, and more often than not I receive answers that just don't make sense or satisfy me. I want to know the truth of God's Word. I believe that it can hold up to the scrutiny. I have so many questions....and I don't know where to go to get them answered. Let me clarify one thing. I don't believe that all of my questions will be answered by going to Bible school. I believe some will but not all. Some graduates of Bible school have told me in fact that I'll probably have more when I leave! What I want to do is learn how to study the Bible. I want to learn how to hand it correctly. I want to love it. I want to know it. I want to be able to share it with others with integrity and honestly. Through all of that, I just want to know God more. If I truly believe that the Bible is God's Word and that it can change lives, then my logical course would be to study it more. Which of course brings up the question, "Jordan, you can study it on your own, bro. There are books and stuff that can help you." Yup. I know there are. But I guess it just comes down to what God has called me to do right now. No other door was opened like the one to Columbia International University has. No other road has given me more peace. I know it is where God has me....studying his Word in depth. Growing in my knowledge of His Word so that I can grow in my relationship with Him. Maybe things will change. Maybe God will lead me elsewhere in the future. Who knows, but Him. But for now, I know this is where He has me....a Bible college student. As long as I continue to seek Him and be willing to do and go wherever He leads, it'll all work out.

If anyone has any questions or anything or thoughts, don't be afraid to throw them my way via message or email. God bless

My Albanian friend.....and an American one!

2009-08-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Psalm 92:4-5

"For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands. How great are your works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts!"

Let me introduce you to a friend of mine, Diti (pronounced (Dee-tee). This picture was taken at a camp our youth ministry went too this summer; we were just having some fun!

I first met Diti at a sports outreach that our church held in 2007. At first he really connected with my younger brother, Jesse, so that was how I first met him. After the outreach we had for two weeks, he started to attend our weekly youth meetings that we began to hold in his neighborhood. I'm not going to lie, I didn't put much hope in Diti. The guy was crazy! He had almost no attention span and didn't seem to serious about anything. If anything, I would have classified him as a distraction to our meetings rather than boost to them. Though I saw Diti like this, God saw him a little different, or should I say a lot?

Diti eventually accepted Christ into his life, and slowly but surely this guy has become, in my opinion, the most spiritually mature Albanian guys in our youth ministry. For example....

-During camp, he wanted to get up early with me so we could read God's Word and pray together.

-He has shared his faith in Jesus Christ with his family and quiet a bit of his friends (many of the guys in our ministry, from what I understand when I talk to them, have not done this much).

-He has asked to meet up with me to talk about God's Word and spiritual issues.

-He is almost the most quiet, attentive guy in our youth meetings (quiet in a respectful way when other people are talking or sharing their heart).

-He has began to stop smoking after smoking about 10 cigarettes a day (he even acknowledges that God has given him the strength and is the secret to the success he's had).

Who God chooses to serve Him in His kingdom is beyond me. Those who I sign off as hopeless, He grabs and transforms.

Isaiah 55:8-9

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

So there's my Albanian friend...onto my American one! This is Andrew...

I first met Andrew at a Servanthood project in....2004....maybe 2005. Anyways, he was the lead man for the basketball camp that we were going to run for younger kids. I was assigned to serve at the basketball camp, so he ended up being my leader. I've always said that basketball draws people together, and that's pretty much what happened. We would be playing ball a bunch, and I would be thinking "Dang, he's good!"

Whenever a pick up game was happening I was hopeing Andrew would be there to play.

So that's how I first met him, and really the only time I saw him during the year. I would chat with him on instant messenger quiet a bit(he claims it was always about girls but I don't believe him), and we kept in touch that way for the most part.

Then my family moved to Tirana, Albania. We would still chat every now and then but the thing I remember was that almost after every conversation, actually I think it was every conversation, he would ask me for updated prayer requests and how the past ones were going. Sometimes to help myself get through a hard time, I would count the amount of people who said they were praying for me regularly, and Andrew's name always came up. The impact his prayers have had on me has been great.

During our conversations, I would occasionally joke about how he would end up in Albania someday teaching at my school. I never was too serious, not until the beginning of this year. The need for teachers at our school was great (still is if your interested!). We were losing our only male teacher because he was being required by his church to come back stateside for a year before heading back full time. One day something just clicked...."Andrew!" So I asked him in an email if he was interested....pretty sure his first response to me was "Are you serious this time?" The result, Andrew is now in Albania short term for a year and will be teaching at my school. How crazy is that? I met the guy and hung out with him for a week, and I kept in contact only through instant messager being he was a student at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. And now he is serving God in the same city and country as my family?

Let's look at that verse from Isaiah again....

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'"

THIS IS WHAT OUR GOD HAS DONE!

Camp Erseke 2009

2009-08-02T05:05:00.000-07:00

Man, there is so much I could share on here about what God did at Camp Erseke. First off, let me fill ya'll in on what it was. There is a Christian run camp in a southern city in Albania called Erseke. They throw camps during the summer for people of all ages and during the school year a Bible school is held there. This past week, God blessed me with the opportunity to attend their high school camp with my youth group.

At first, I didn't know if I was going to go. Well, I guess I should say "At first, I was for sure going. Then I didn't know what to do. Then I went." You see my family planned a vacation with another family to Montenegro the same week I was signed up to go to camp. So I was thinking "Lord, what do you want me to do? I wish I could go on vacation with my family but on the other hand I feel like I need to attend this camp. What do you want?" Jesse had already chosen to go on vacation with my family, and I had the option to do whatever. Well as you can see I'm this post is going to be about Camp Erseke 2009, so I think ya'll can see which one I chose ; ) Though I wish I could have shared my family's experiences in Montenegro, I can now see that going to camp was exactly what God had for me.

This camp was done pretty much all in Albanian, and that's the way it should be. After all, it's a camp for Albanian youth. But with that came a somewhat difficult week for me at times. I don't speak Albanian fluently. There are some tenses I don't know how to use at all! So this past week was a big stretch for me in the area of Albanian. Some days were great, and others were harder. For a week this blonde American was engulfed in Albanian language and culture. Don't get me wrong, I love Albania, but it was tough at times. By midweek I was physically doing fine, but mentally and spiritually exhausted. Here's a list of some of the feelings I felt at camp...
-Joy
-Frustration
-Peace
-Anger
-Embarrassment
-Fear
-Exhaustion
-Worry
-Longing
-Pressure
It seemed like I was hitting the whole spectrum, but this past week at Erseke I wouldn't trade for anything. It was through the harder times of this past week that I learned some very valuable lessons. I learned...
-the importance of reconciliation.
-that "love is patient."
-that God is faithful.
-that life with Jesus is an adventure and a battle.
-that good things aren't always achieved easily.
That last one there is a big one. Yeah, there were times where camp was difficult, but despite that, God did some amazing things. And that is the purpose of my blog, to share with my brothers and sisters in Christ what God has done!

There were three guys in my youth group who I really felt like God gave me the chance to reach out to this past week and grow in my relationship with. God provided me with great conversations with these guys!
-I talked with two about purity and God's view on sex!
-I talked with one about my testimony relationships!
-I spent 2 early mornings praying and talking about God's word with two of them!
-I shared the gospel with one of them!
-I talked about the importance of the words that come out of our mouths with one too!

There I am using the pronoun "I" but it was GOD who brought these conversations about! It was GOD who helped me give my testimony in Albanian. It is GOD who is going to grow the seed (1 Co. 3:6-7)!

But just like the infomercials we all love and adore, "But wait! There's more!"

God...
-gave me the strength to do a skit in Albanian!
-enabled me to pray in Albanian!
-gave me the energy and people I needed around me to get me through the week!
-began to work in one of my Albanian brother's heart to begin sharing his faith with his friends!
-cultivated a heart for worship in the guys' from my youth group's heart!
-kept us safe!
-strengthened relationships I had with the guys in my youth group!

God did all of this! And there's more He did that I don't even know of! It's absolutely crazy and He is worthy of all the praise, glory, and honor!

Brothers and sisters in Jesus, This is what God has done.

JZ

Finding rest in the Lord

2009-07-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the third night in a row where I have decided to just go out on our home's balcony for a bit and just be still...and it's pretty much awesome. But first let me explain why I've started to do this.

Let me let you guys in on a secret--I love movies. For me, it is a mindless activity that I find pretty much relaxing and awesome to fall asleep too. So for pretty much half of my summer so far, I have finished off my day by throwing in a DVD, grabbing my pillow, and heading to the couch for a night-long siesta. I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty awesome at times. But I've started to notice a few things.

1. My relationship with God was getting....I'll just say it dull and lifeless.

2. My focus was drifting more and more toward earthly things.

3. My back was starting to hurt....yeah, it's the random one but I'll list it anyway.

So three nights ago, I decided to change things up a bit. Before I went to go watch my nightly movie, I went out on our balcony and I just sat down. I prayed a little bit but mostly I just sat there trying to quiet everything and hoping my focus would just snap back in place. That night was semi-successful. Last night was a little more. But tonight was the best of all. The sky was clear and the stars were shining everywhere and it hit me, "This is frickin better and more restful than watching any movie!" But it hasn't just been a thing of "Ah, that's beautiful." It's been me coming to a realization (one I'm still growing in) of how great God is! These verses are familiar to most disciples of Jesus, but they take on a new meaning when you are out there at night observing it for yourself.

Psalm 19:1-2
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge."

The whole chapter is frickin awesome but those two verses came to me specially tonight. God has created every stinking star in the sky.....every planet.....every galaxy.....and me, just a 17 year old guy living in the small country of Albania. And just as his creation is declaring the glory of God and proclaiming the works of his hands, so it is my privilege to do the same.

Right now, I'm feeling pretty rested...at peace is a better way to put it, but that shouldn't surprise me. David says in Psalm 62 "My sould finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him."

Peace for my soul...

This is what God has done!

This blog's purpose...

2009-07-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

For a long time now, I've put off creating a blog. Good friends and family had created them, and I loved reading theirs, but personally, I didn't want another thing added to my list of "things to keep updated." So why have I made one now???

A few days ago in my time with God I was reading Acts chapter 14. At the end of the chapter, a verse caught my eye...."On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles." Immediately what came to my mind was my family going from church to church in the States giving updates on our ministry here in Tirana with the Roma. But then I got to thinking, "How are my reporting what God has done and is doing in my life? How are my informing my brothers and sisters in Christ of what's going down?"

Thus, we have the inspiration for "The JZ Report"! The purpose of this blog though isn't to just to give Jordan another avenue to banter on and on about things. It is to show what "God has done!"

The second purpose behind me creating this blog is to help me do something that I am pretty bad at doing....REMEMBERING what God has done! 1 Chronicles 16:12 says "Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he pronounced." Why is it that God doesn't frickin amazing things in my life, and yet I forget it the next week if not the next day?? Good thing we have a gracious God!

So....it is finished. I have entered the world of blogging...but with a purpose!

Psalm 72:18-19
"Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen."