Joe Carter - Serving the Kingdom Through Missions

Step Outside Yo'Self

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

What is going on? How have the winter months of the New Year been treating you? After coming back from Ohio, which is as flat as the book The Pride and Prejudice, the Vermont mountains have really been great to look at. My week break from school has been relaxing and rejuivenating. Well, here are my thoughts as of late--I pray that God will speak to you through them.

Supposedly, Peter, a follower of Jesus was nailed to a cross upside down. Paul was stoned so hard that everyone in the crowed considered their life sucking hands filled beyond measure. Paul lived on to preach the gospel and somehow eventually died doing so. The only person who really enjoyed the "old age" years was John the apostle and even he died. Also, Mathew was a dirty tax collector and Paul was apparently short, stout, and ugly and had a "thorn in the flesh" that God politely refused to remove. Was this a bad case of hemorrhoids, blindness, an awful wife (as one lady from Focus on the family suggested), or hoof-to-mouth disease? I don't know, but it was unpleasant.

We've got "thorns" we'd like to have removed-a big honking yellow tooth in the front, awkward limbs, a stutter, hearing problems, or conjunctivitis; you name it. Where would we be in this world of sin and brokenness if it weren't for these limitations? I can tell you, with our fierce Western individualism-cowboy-I-can-do-it-myself mindset, we would not look to anything, would not depend on anything for help in our day. Paul boasted about his limitations. God created his stout little legs because he knew Paul's fiber; He knew that if he were a pinch more attractive pride would swallow his ministry and he would be as good as a stump in God's Kingdom.

Over the last year and a half God has blessed me by lifting part of his protective hands and allowed marauders to storm my temple. Metaphorically speaking, I've been stoned, spit on, slapped, tripped, insulted, whipped with fiberglass and see many others including you reading who may have been blessed with similar blows. Every time I set out to spread the hope of Jesus Christ, several men take bats to my stomach and scream to me that I am ugly and a dirty sinner. Do you know this voice? Good thing I am a wild man for Jesus, created in his image and an heir to the throne of the God who created Vermont's mountains. Really, I hurt and want to quit, to choose to lust and be down and crumble like Allen Iverson's career as of late. Trust me, I've gandered that course and run those steep hills.

It has only convinced me of our desperate need of the grace, love, and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Judges 1:19 we read the words of a clever author, "but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots." The men of God could not defeat their enemies because of their limitations. It makes sense to us doesn't it? The enemy is just too strong for God, or God's chosen people just didn't have iron chariots? Did God use Gideon and three hundred men to drive out and terrorize thousands of trained soldiers with pots and pans mothers once used to cook little steaks for children in? Did Joshua fail in his pursuit of the heads of Jerichonians because Jericho had a massive wall around the city? The author of Judges is testing us. Why do you think the men of Judah failed in Judges 1:19? Please read Judges 2:1-3.

Disobedience! God doesn't hold us accountable for our limitations but for what our actions are and where our hearts are. If we love him we will obey his commands right? If God tells us to love our neighbor and he happens to be homosexual, will you disobey God??

I write to encourage you that through my limitations, God has been able to use me in mighty ways! Last night I found myself at a bar in Burlington playing pool and telling an old friend from high school with a drug problem (that I might have if I were in his shoes) that I will be praying for him every day and I got to witness to three people my age, one was homeless and was able to speak the wonders of God to my best friend in an Indian tea restaurant with Pagan statues and prayer circles all around us. I had a blast!

I say this to brag about the faithfulness of Jesus, who said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full"-John 10:10. Trust me, at different times during the night, men threw bricks at my heart and I thought I would curl up and die, but through it I was able to listen to God's voice, "I am right here with you."

So tell God when you feel weak and ask Him to use you because when there is less of our Big Head, there is more room for Jesus to shine through us to pour himself over

his precious creation.

Find life today through

the mercy of Jesus Christ.

I love and praise Jesus,

Love- Joe Cartier

Faith In Mullets

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Do you know what my favorite thing to do is? Have faith in people when they don't have faith in themselves. Maybe that is why I love running with people so much. Maybe it's because I am so familiar with the voice in my head that says, "No, don't do that, you can't do it, you aren't strong enough, God wont forgive you for...that." There's a freshman guy on my floor that is there because of God's will. We have developed a strong friendship. I, being a bit older than him and just coming off a year of having Seth Barnes and Jamie O'shea and college teammates pour their lives into me, have taken our friendship as an opportunity to keep the water flowing in his direction. Currently, he is away at an evangelical conference that he chose to go to a couple of hours away with people from his class. Earlier he was a bit worried whether people from his class would want to go. It was an honor to say, "This is a great idea, awesome, present it in the right way and they'll def. go."

I also think of that 8-9 mile run that I took Nate Merrill on over Christmas break. Towards the end of it, I was smelling blood-the deep animal instincts were pushing me to have a kick. There is something in our competitive nature when running with someone that says "Kill it, kill them!" "Or, "They are too strong, they are going to destroy you!" I could tell that Nate was tired based on his hard breathing, but another voice in my head gave me the desire to see how far and how fast Nate could be pushed. I have seen Nate's innate drive before over the 8ish years I have been his best friend and it took a little encouragement, but we both finished like men.

I think of God and how well he knows us who follow him. "The Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-the Lord, who remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous." "He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow." Psalm 147: 15-18

You could read my blog and follow my words and go out and act on them and say, "Joe, I trusted in what you said to the end, I loved your blogs and encouragement," and these actions could mean nothing at the throne of judgment without a proper relationship with Jesus Christ. "Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save...they return to the ground...their plans come to nothing. Bessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God." (Psalm 146: 3-5).

Do you look to someone, the Nobel Peace prize winner or the inventor of the golden toilette or Bush's Best Baked Beans, or maybe someone at college or work who has a really sweet mullet hat everyone loves, and say, "There's my answer, I'm going to follow that guy!" It's good to have faith in people, but when the mullet man shows up with an American Eagle Polo and short hair and makes fun of your mullet, or when the Nobel Peace prize winner screws up in public and everyone calls him a hypocrite, is your world going to crash down? If you put your hope in that person, the answer is yes.

I am calling us to have more faith in God. To have faith is to have freedom. To entertain anxiety and worry about how we are going to do this task or worry what's going to happen next or to worry that we are going to fail are forms of mini prisons. To show my faith in God's creation will continue to be one of my joys, but my ultimate faith will be in the one who promises, "I will never leave you or forsake you."

Bill O'Neil, I expect to see at least one interview on ESPN with you and Peyton today, or at least hear the recording on your techno logical machine ary. Someone should throw a party at Marelene Bedards house today; she knows more about sports than my father knows about 1Corinthians. The Saints kinda make me sick but I would like to see the Colts go down. Anybody else with me? Well I hope you have a great superbowl, eat chowder, chips, Oreos, the whole shebang.

Love Joe Carter

InDescribable

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey fellas and ladies,

It seems that God has been using me in ways that I could never imagine, especially when I think of who I am without Him. I have been working on a poem these last few days and prayed that I would have it done tonight; Praise God, it is finished! I write this to bring honor to God, my Savior. I wrote using some "thees" and "Lests" because I feel our language is very restricting and high falootant (how ever you spell that) and I wanted to be concise as possible--which I hope honors God. Read it slowly because it is this way.

We just finished having our first floor Bible study in Rickard. Had a brother seek prayer and I yelled with my finger out, "Leave!" because I sensed oppression...and later he came up to me with complete joy saying that he felt something leave and lift when I said that. I felt it too, blows me away. God's power is real.

Please pray for our prayer group, we had one man who said he felt he wasn't living the right way, he felt an uneasiness with his soul...and yet another that wished to always seek God, and to actually find him. There are powerful times yet to come! I am so glad to have a floor of like minded men! (but not perfect, in need of growth!). It is true that anything we do for our Savior deserves nothing from him, we are in eternal debt. When we do things for Him, we are to rejoice but know that we are simply his slaves, as Paul says. Slaves do not get anything from their masters, nor do they expect it. Lets be the same way in our service!

Our Time is Short

Be there reason to restrain praise?

Though flesh is weak these days

Sing Hosanna for the days are made

Where angels and our Savior be

O, the glory I can see.

My eyes be blind, my soul need trust

The One who strengthens what He must.

Dare I praise thee less this day?

Pray no!

Our song at sunrise,

During toil, our joy to quench

And peace as eyelids close,

Thy promised splendor my eyes do see.

Look, Paul and Timothy, with flutes they dance.

How restraineth He, the excited eternity?

Leaper with joy, like a dog at our names!

Persevere, lest He find you undressed.

Work as if you see His rod.

Repent, at last! Right yourself with God!

And call to arms faith shine righteousness!

Endless prayers for Brothers send

Praise to the Alpha, the Omega,

The Beginning and the End!

Amen.

Read the Word and be filled with life! Have a blessed weekend and coming week. Rest up, enjoy God! Love--Jose

Taken Care of By God

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey, thanks for continuing to check in on me and encourage me with your comments. I read some of them like six times a day because it feels so good to know people are praying for me and that God is using my blogs to speak to you as well.

Well, I am going to fill you in on what it's like in Ohio:

Cornfields are everywhere. Cedarville College is in the village of Cedarville, which is highly focused on community. During orientation cars would stream by with young kids yelling out windows and parents honking to welcome outsiders into the community.

The other day, I was riding a friend's bike on the back roads, which are a little wider than half the size of our roads and are supposed to be two lanes. I was way out there and it was a really sunny, cool fall day-the classic weather you only read about. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned my bike towards this amazing, but common site-a cornfield. As I got closer the corn seemed to stretch higher until I could reach out and touch it, it was "two Joes" high! On another occasion I stopped and ran on this narrow path in the middle of this monstrous stretch of cornfield and as I ran through the maze, black birds flew up on both sides of me the whole way down. It was amazing; I love God's creation.

As far as people go, let me tell you a story. Okay, so I am studying my brains out for an exam when, for the first time after I wrote that blog about depression (about four weeks ago) a wave hits me. It reminds me of the storm with Jesus and his disciples. Feelings of helplessness grip me, but not hopelessness. I jump up from my chair and in jeans and moccasins I tear out of the building and run hard. I scream to God for help, for I know the death this storm strives for. I run to a waterfall in a park, two miles away. Here, in desperation, I praise God with everything I can muster. I praise him for his power and might and victory over sin and darkness. Do you know that song: "Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord...we will wait upon the Lord, we will wait upon the Lord?" Well I run back and sing this the whole way and from what I can remember I read a Church sign saying, "God is in control." I put myself in the disciple's shoes and decide to trust Jesus that the storm will pass without taking my life. I head back to the dorms and friends make me aware that a brother has been struggling with depression for a while. Immediately we pray for this friend and bust into his room and invite him to the play (The Miracle Worker), saying you are coming and we are buying your ticket! God uses our struggles.

Then, I tell my brothers of my current battle and they pray for me. I head to my room and all of the sudden I hear low, hushed voices. I stick my head out of my door to see mischievous young men running towards me. They all grab my limbs and with all their might, they carry me off and kidnap me to a couch to show me their love. I love my floor.

I eat with these men, talk like a pirate, play 5 on 5 basketball every Friday at 5, and we are all growing together. I have found such life here submitting my will to God's. I am set free and my expressions of joy have seemed contagious. I notice that when we express joy, we see the same joy come back to us when we might not feel so joyous. God has me here for so many reasons and I am staying strong in my faith and am spreading the Good News with all of my heart. Praise God he has changed my life and set me free, God is awesome!

I hope it encourages you that I am staying strong and holding on to the truths everyone has shown me. Pray for our floor here in Rickard. I am praying for what God gives me a heart for and I know of two brothers who are doing the same (from PCBC) so don't feel alone, you are being prayed for too.

Love Jose Carter

Your. Will. Be. Done.

Sat, 3 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"Enjoy me" was your loving command, O Lord. These words have washed over me like refreshing spring water. It means to me that when I pray, "Your will be done," I fully expect it is the best thing possible for my life and a friend's life.

Your will is that I live life to the fullest, your will is that we all choose you-that we all choose to live amidst a world brought to its knees in the weight of its sin. Your will slaps passivity in the face repeatedly and grabs the reigns of Jehu's chariots, driving wildly. Your will is to love even our blemishes and to combat our fallen state by turning our weaknesses into might-and that we should love our brothers enough to expose their vices.

Your will is to make our burdens light so we can bear the burdens of others that stumble. Your will is to renew our strengths so that when we run we will not grow weary. And your will is that we sit up and breathe fresh praises to you, our Creator each morning.

"Your will be done."

Amen,

Love us who believe.

John 10:10 "My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

Mathew 11:28 "Then Jesus said, Come to me, all who are weak and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light."

Galations 6:1-2 "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are Godly should gently and humbly help that person back into the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. 2 Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ."

Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always; And again I will say, Rejoice!"

New Living Translation: "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again-Rejoice!"

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 "Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.

29 He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

30 Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Psalm 59:16 "But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress."

1 Timothy 2:3-4 "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 'Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth."

Your will be done. Amen.
Have a great week and enjoy our Savior!

Love, Joe Carter

Come Jesus, Come!

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Thank you for the feedback on that broad question that I asked. Dad-that is a very concise, holistic summary. I still think that you should continue your blogs (though they have always been ridden with spelling errors). Bill O, good point about media bias, I did not consider that. The reason why I want this question to be answered on my blog is to provide a light to the world, the actual Christian perspective on what the Bible says about God.

I have a few burning things that I want to offer to my Dad's comment (on the last blog).

"IE, with respect to 9/11- where was God? Why didn't He stop it? How could He have let this happen?

Dozens of Christian books have been written to answer the question of evil and I sure won't come up with anything new or profound. It gets back to the fallen nature that all humans have. Man's heart is against God and God allows him to do evil."

The thing I want to focus on is the last part of this section my Dad mentioned, "God allows him [us] to do evil." This is a beautiful part of God. Maybe you don't think so, but maybe you will after you hear this argument. I pray that God fills me with wisdom on this matter.

Genesis 1:27: "So God created human beings in his own image...and he saw that it was very good!" Our wonderful creator, God, is like us. With our very dear friends, are we forced to love them, or is a choice? What if your best friend was a robot and had no choice but to submit to you and love you, would this love be passionate? NO! Of course not, we would even think it to be morally wrong. God is the same way, but being God, he had control of giving his "friends/creation" (Adam and Eve) a perfect life in Eden.

Genesis 2:9 "Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he made. The Lord made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground-the trees that were beautiful and produced delicious fruit." God was and is worthy of praise! It goes on, "In the middle of the Garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." 16: The Lord God warned him, "You may eat the fruit of every tree in the Garden-except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat this fruit you will surely die." This is the characteristic of God: He is passionate for us and intended for us to have a perfect life, but wants us to choose him and choose to love him-no robots allowed Heaven! He desires passion! Do you see Arnold demonstrate passionate love in the Terminator movies? He is simply programmed-our difference from machine. God doesn't program a chip in our brains that force us to love him.

God is said to be sovereign. Whenever I hear this word I instantly become confused and sick and I want to throw up each time someone uses it. God is involved in everything-even 9/11 was filtered through his hands of love. Does this not make sense? Let me explain. For us humans, born into the "sin nature" caused by Adam and Eve eating from the tree, we are quite inclined to choose evil. Gradually, we have become even more evil and more prone to reject God and his perfect plan with our lives in society-Dad you touched upon this "we live in a world of sin and death. Evil, pain and suffering seem to go unchecked. Remember that scripture clearly predicts that the things will get worse and worse as the Lord's return gets closer." In our state of evil, why would we choose God if we didn't see a need for him in our PRESENT lives. Why would we choose to love something we cannot see? Without Jesus coming to die for our sins, we would have no hope and continue to spiral downwards in our sin.

Have you ever heard of an alcoholic that has hit rock bottom? God allows this person to choose evil...evil...evil...for a reason. When a person hits rock bottom, they begin to look not to themselves anymore to solve life's problems. They look elsewhere! What a perfect opportunity for God to reveal his true plan with a person's life when they have finally looked outside themselves for answers. HERE IS HEAVEN! God screams during this time. I BEG YOU, FREE YOURSELF FROM BONDAGE. CHOOSE ME!

I agree with mah fathah: "My response to 9/11 is one of intense sorrow at the suffering that man inflicts on each other because of sin. I groan inwardly, as I see the effects of sin, and long for the Savior to return to complete redemption (Rom 8:22-23). I pray that many will turn to God when they see such sorrow, because He has provided a solution (and that's what many did after 9/11)." God allows these wicked things to occur from the decisions of men so that, in the form of two towers, our securities in this world come crashing down so we look to life after death.

We truly have a loving Father,

"Til' on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied ---(our punishment for our choice of sin erased!)

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live."

"No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from his hand

Til' he returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I stand."

Amen! Praise to our Creator! Thank you for reading. I hope this brings an answer from the Church and Gospel itself to the much sought after question. Have a great week!

-Joe Carter

A Question That Must be Answered!

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I thank all of you for continuing to read and encourage me as

I strive to encourage all of you. It is so cool how this works.

I have just a few words for today, something that strikes me

as vitally important for unbelievers and believers to confront:

Today in class, we watched a video of interviews of outspoken

believers that was broadcasted in major news medias (not sure

which ones, maybe 60 minutes?). They answered the question,

where was God in 9/11? How do you respond to this desimation

of human life and act of evil?

The represetantives spoke words that cut out my heart as I watched:

"My jaw dropped and I decided I couldn't believe in a God that allowed this,

I had to find a new God."

"My view of God completely changed."

These are current believers and their response to the world's question.

I have to come to class on Monday with a response to this question. What do

you think as a believer? This is an important question on the minds of America,

lets answer to benefit believers in God as well as unbelievers.

Thank you for reading and have a fantastic rest of the week-

-Jose

Dealing with Depression

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey readers, how are you today?

Did you know that 19,000,000 of us Americans deal with severe depression? Did you know that I have my days, like this morning, where I wake up and just don't feel like Joe, don't feel like singing at the top of my lungs, and feel out of sink? On these days, I used to feel completely alone. I would feel like my feelings were completely unique, that no one could relate to how I was feeling. I felt weird, ungodly, a failure, and like I wasn't following the commands of the Bible about joy. 19,000,000 people feel the same way; isn't it sickening that I would believe the lie that I am the only one!? Do you feel like the only one feeling downtrodden right now? Where is this lie coming from? John 10:10, "the thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy." I think it is pretty clear that it isn't from God, because he goes on to say, "My Purpose to give them a rich and satisfying life."

Lets read a journal entry of mine from about three weeks ago about our call to claim joy!

Joy is a fundamental characteristic of God. We are made in the image of God so joy is one of our traits. Joy can be found in many things. I find joy in running, I find joy when I am with girls and I find joy when I watch my dog run free in a field. Sin is making joy in these things without appreciating God.

I devoted a lot of time in high school to running. So much that I cared about my performance and devoted my thoughts to it more than to my God! It was my ultimate sense of Joy. In my sophomore year running, my joy, was taken from me and I went into deep sadness and became very angry at God.

Girls were a lot of my focus in high school and were a huge source of self-worth and joy. I even compromised beliefs because of girls. I am single now, so obviously this joy did not last.

I am not wild about animals but if I felt a deep connection and love for a dog and devoted my time and heart to it, it could develop into a God (God is dog backwards). It would be a great source of joy for me. Dogs die. With it, a person can be grief stricken and become angry and feel like a part of them died with it.

I have been reading about joy in my Spiritual Formation class. Ortberg talks about the spiritual discipline of joy. In, "The life you've always wanted," it talks about how we wait in lines to experience joy (like at a theme park), we work at our jobs for future joy, and even mundane tasks like brushing our teeth are a waiting process for the joys of sleep. If we wait for joy, we will die and still be waiting. It must be seized!

Circumstances in life will often give us no reason for joy: huge tests, long classes, boring job, a breakup, or even an unfaithful friend. As Christians, we must not place all of our joy into only the positive things in life and wait for them; we must constantly praise God for his awesome power, love, Heaven, and Jesus. Think of when Ezra reads the "Book of the laws of Moses," to the Israelites in Nehemiah 8. They are a bunch of commands of don'ts. The people even have to stand for three hours while the rules were laid out for them (Neh 9:3). What was their response? "The people had all been weeping as they listened to the words of the law." What a hard standard they had to live up to!

What do the leaders say to this? "This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" The Israelites responded to God's calling and celebrated like no tomorrow (they probably ate bacon, bushes best beans, and fire jumped) and were filled with supernatural joy!

Did that have a worldly reason to celebrate? Did they just receive a raise or did Allen Iverson just win a championship? The answer is no. In NEH 9:5 they did not draw joy from worldly objects but prayed to God, "May your glorious name be praised! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord. You made the skies and the Heavens and all the stars. You made the earth and the seas and everything in them. You preserve them all, and the angels of Heaven worship you."

Things of this world are temporary as you can see. I wont be a runner forever, I am single, and Lassie is long dead and thus the joys obtained from these things will be gone. If we put our full joy in God, it will never pass away. Things such as beautiful art, Salvador Dali paintings, climbable, massive trees, and John Coltrane Jazz will merely heighten our joy and we can thank God for creating minds, nature, and music! Please, I urge you to make joy a discipline of yours, to become more like Christ. Sad times are temporary--with God and with us--because when we finally reach Heaven, there will be no more hurt, but continual joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength; focus on the eternal, focus on joy!

One caution of warning: I was dreaming and praying about joy and I heard the Lord prompt me: "You must check everything with scripture!" So, lets read the scriptures and what they say about joy so we aren't searching for joy in the wrong places.

Psalm 121!

A Life not Shared is Meaningless

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey faithful reader...Do you know what I just decided? I need to share the things God has done in my life. I recall the movie, "Into the Wild," where Chris Mcandless reaches his death and realizes that all his life experiences would be better if shared. I think this is his revelation. Anyway, I have got to share God's glory with a few of my experiences. Here is a quote from my journal that I think you will appreciate.

"I wanted to sit with someone so bad today at dinner, I prayed for one person. Then, I believed and God reminded me to trust him. I could find nobody so I sat at a table by the windows with five empty seats. God still put hope in my heart. I felt so alone (in the corner too) though and I talked to God about it. Then, five minutes later, five girls (the exact number of seats left) asked if I was sitting with anyone else. I responded "no" and they asked if they could sit with me! Five girls! I feel like giving God a high five!"

Lord, you are so good. You care for me intimately,

My needs fall into your basket

You handle each one with care

And love to give me gifts from your bags

God forbid, I grab it.

The best gifts to receive are the ones

waited for like on Christmas.

Christ gives with such joy,

I feel it,

The reciprocity is amazing.

Thank you for defining goodness,

Grace,

Love.

Amen.

Isn't God so good? I even contemplate my own poem when I mention the reciprocal nature of God. Yes, he responded to my prayer and trust in him in this one instance, but does he not give even when we don't ask? He is beyond reciprocal.

I was sitting on my desk late last night and wrote out a blog in my journal that just naturally flowed from what I am learning in my Spiritual Formation class. I went to bed without posting it and then had a dream that rocked me with spiritual warfare and I woke up with fear like a little kid in a lightning storm. Basically, my authority in Christ was cast aside by darkness and I was confronted as though I am pathetic and my power in Christ is useless. I think I will post this blog soon, it's about the discipline of joy and I am still trying to read more scripture about it but I will post it soon.

For now, I challenge you to tell people about the great things God is doing in your lives. Recognize his gifts and ask for them as well. He loves to give! We can also pray that he give generously and bless our friends. This shows true love for our neighbors (because the power of prayer is reality). Maybe you have experiences that you would feel more comfortable sharing in a comment to this blog. Do so because I know people read this, let me know that I don't stand alone in being supernaturally blessed by God!

Have a great week!

Faith Brings Joy!

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I am overwhelmed with joy. Since I have shifted my hope and faith in Jesus and remained broken, I have soared on wings as eagles. God is Good!

I work with a Bartender, Duncan, from South Africa. He's a guy where you take one look at him and point, "That's a cool guy." A tooth pick belongs in the corner of his mouth. Through his stories I have gained his Father left when he was very young-his earliest memory was his Dad's Python that they let go because it was shedding everywhere. I got so convicted one day and my heart burned to tell him we could have the same Father who is perfect. Monday, a brother in Christ yells,

"Joe, how was Church yesterday?"

"Solid," I reply.

Duncan then says,

"What Church do you go to?" And then explains he used to go to a Church back home that has a rock band.

"Mine does too...bass guitar, electric, drums...the whole deal." I exclaim. Then the question of all questions leaps from my mouth.

"What do you believe, are you a Christian?" I ask.

"Yes, I am." Then, openly at his bar we have a discussion about everything I have been hit with recently...and with excitement. The Lord prepared me because I have been crazy over Romans, as you can see with my blogs. I quoted, "It is not by works but faith we are saved," and we went into detail about the misconceptions our culture has about this.

To top it off he says with his accent,

"Joey, people think I am weird for this but I love snowboarding so much because I depend and trust God for my safety...I feel him powerfully."

"That is not weird at all, for me it's running, God made me fast and you to love the thrill of snowboarding, we are both made uniquely, so get out there!"

His face lights up! Then he gets into how he had a great Rastafarian friend and he talks about how many other religions share the same God.

"Yeah, but we get to heaven by faith in Jesus." I respond.

Then, like he is having a revelation he says,

"Yeah, I do believe that Christ is the only way."

--It was like I was proclaiming this truth directly to his heart where Christ was waiting to reaffirm what was inside him!

I go around the corner to the back hallway and all the employees are dead silent, I just hum my way through knowing they all just heard two witnesses of the Good News! Amen.

The Lord gave me opportunities like this until the end of my job (tonight). All of these tough hours paid off in the last four days. The faith and hope of the cross allowed me to persevere and reap many joys!

Spend time with Jesus all day and read His Word like your life depends on it and persevere because it's true, "Faith brings joy!"

Praise God! Be encouraged and let us boast in the goodness of God together!

The Old Rugged Cross

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I was just trying to sleep and I saw an image in my head that the Lord used to give me a personal revelation. So praise Jesus!

Picture a juggler. How easy is it for him to throw one ball up and down? Add another ball and it is a bit harder and add ten more and all of his balls will fall including the one.

We must not entertain ourselves with more than one truth. The Devil loves to throw exra objects to go along with truths and the longer we juggle them, the more apt our world is going to come crashing down.

Luckily, we can never drop our salvation. But, we can be used to throw our extra balls into non-believer's hands. That is why we must not believe anything outside from the truth.

91.5 Christian radio conducted a survey about what Christians thought about sex before marriage. It was scary to hear the percentage of people that gave their answers based on their own life's compromises. This is a ball people are juggling alongside the truth. The Bible says we are to abstain until marriage. Many other compromises are made in our lives and we can lead other Christians to add a lie to their truth ball. Let us always take out our opinion and toss one truth around, which is the Gospel.

Now, thankfully we are all, like Pastor Nathan said today, on level ground, all rotten sinners. Read Romans 3:9-20. We are all unrighteous and thankfully the God of the universe has a plan and he will pluck lies out of thin air and replace them with truth because he is gracious. What I have been struggling with is spiritual pride. Looking at what I have been doing and feeling it is making me more right with God. I now see this as impossible. Romans 3:23: We all fall short of God's glorious standard. I have been trying so hard to live up to God's standard that I have missed out on the joy of juggling one ball. The cross is enough. Romans 3:27: "Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith...does this me we can forget about the law? Of course not!"

I want to share a poem with you because it is my way to put to words where I am at. I wrote it when I could only pray Jesus, Jesus. Writing was the only way I could come to grips with I am rotten and will be free from sin only when I get to Heaven. For now, I cling to the Old Rugged Cross.

One Who is Forgiven, One Who is Forgiveness

Lord,

I can't promise you I will be perfect like you can promise me I'll be forgiven.

My soul aches,

Lift my heavy yoke.

Like the faithful three I want to plunge into the unknown fate.

My heart hates sin,

I love you Jesus.

I want to move mountains and glorify your name only Jesus.

Free me from my shackles,

Take the scales from my eyes.

I want to run the race you have picked out for me,

For your will is perfect,

You are divine,

Forgiving,

My joy,

Peace, strength, my clothes for the day,

My pillar, the pillar of the Church.

I wear prostitutes clothing and my sins are many.

You are the redeemer of all,

Savior from the jaws of death,

Choosing you is not like a card game,

It is no gamble.

I use a heroine addict's needles to mutilate joy.

You take the broken and not those on self-appointed grandstands and

betterment.

I seek darkness so that I match my shadow.

You offer white towels of forgiveness for all, forever.

I now open my arms in faith that you will heal my wounds,

Clean my pores,

Shine light like a doctor into my eyes,

Lead me up cliffs with ropes.

For you know the terrain,

Your every step is firm and you made the map,

Made the danger signs,

Forged the trail already and protect those who choose you as their guide from the snow

As it hurls itself by.

I need you, Jesus.

Jesus, I need you.

Father, Father

Bring me back to the trail heading

The sign is a cross

And this is sufficient,

Thank you Jesus,

Amen.

The Fight and Victory and Freedom

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I was going to wait until later in the week to write this down, all that the Lord is teaching me. I can't stand it any longer I have to express it.

Here I am, it is Monday and I have three twelve hour days at work ahead of me. I have come off a great weekend with writing a blog and having a crazy experience on Church Street and a great time at the Saturday Men's Breakfast. I always try to listen for Gods voice and for the last how ever many mornings I have been getting up at 8:00a.m (very early for me) to spend with the Lord because I feel like it blesses my day and centers my focus on Christ. I read my Bible and always, just before work I read a few verses to focus on. Constantly I am saying God use me and when I work I act as if I am serving the Lord.

Serving the Lord is no easy task...it means that everything I notice that can be done I do, and to the best of my ability. If I see crumbs on a table I wipe them, if I see chairs not tucked all the way in I tuck them in or if a table needs to be cleared, I strive to be the one to pick up the heavy tray. If someone got to it first I made sure to thank them. If I got in someone's way, I made sure to apologize or say, "excuse me." Does this sound okay to you?

Let me put it to the extreme. This attitude progressed so that if I forgot to read my Bible before work I would read it in the bathroom. Let me describe what would happen if I accidentally cut someone off or said something in a tone that "could" be a bad tone.

I reach down to grab four placemats to be set on the tables and turn around and out of the corner of my eye I see a co-worker coming down the hallway with a plate of food. I decide to rush towards the table and move in front of him...which probably didn't effect him at all. Then I question in my mind, "Wait, did I just cut him off?" "Should I apologize?" "No, it's fine he doesn't care at all." "Lord, what should I do?" "Lord I am sorry for cutting him off." Then, it's like I am laying down with a pile of kids on my chest. You know, the feeling when you can't breath but you are telling yourself it's Ok. Then I imagine different ways to apologize to the guy and I feel distant from God. I try and praise him for his forgiveness but it doesn't feel genuine. God I just want to be right with you I scream in my mind. Then the shame and guilt press harder. "The only way I can find freedom from this," I convince myself, "is to apologize to him." By now thirty minutes of anxiety have gone by and I can't seem to find a moment to apologize. Finally, I am clearing a tray and he comes up happily beside me and starts talking about something random. This is it I think. I swallow every ounce of pride inside me and say, "Hey man I am sorry I cut you off back there."

"What are you talking about?" He says.

"You remember, it was like a while ago, like 30 minutes or an hour." I can't even stand to look him in the eyes because I am actually apologizing for this.

"Oh what! Joe if you ever make me mad, you'll here about it, don't worry Joe, c'mon."

Few, relief from the pressure on my chest, a few guys apparently get of the pile. Now I can have fellowship and hear from my God. I can praise him again, thank you Lord! Ten minutes later I see someone helping clear a table of mine...one of the servers. "Shoot," I think, I should apologize and thank the person for clearing the table for me.

This cycle went on at work all day long. My concern to be right with God drove me the whole way. I guess it began in small stages the week before, but this week my need to have others forgiveness drove me. I kept thinking I desperately needed to apologize for wronging someone. Amidst this trainwreck in my mind I would proclaim, "Show me the sin Lord!" Nothing would ever come to my mind but the pressure on my chest would always build. I proclaim out loud, "Wasn't Jesus's sacrifice enough, God's grace sufficient?" Still the guilt and shame would increase and I could not even forgive myself for accidentally getting in someone's way. It was aweful.

I remember coming home very frustrated and my mom was sitting in the big blue chair. I explained everything to her. First, she told me what I was describing wasn't sin at all, it just happens in busy restaurants, it's natural. I argued with her for a while and finally listened. The, "Jesus's love covers all," answer is not what I wanted to hear because I wanted to be right with God. I also didn't want all of my efforts to get apologies and everything I did to be unnecessary. Where was God in all of this? I depend on him day to day and try to listen for his voice and praise him and pray.

The reason all of this happened is because I was led by the devil to believe a few glaring lies. After talking with my mom I found peace. I can't do it all, my whole life I have done countless wrongs that I haven't apologized for. I am still standing strong though, how is this possible?

Oooh, this is good. I can't wait to throw that shame and crap and poop right back at the devil and proclaim to the world that I am a strong man of God and I know what Jesus, the manliest man of all, did for me and everyone on this earth!

So darkness, take this:

Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes...This Good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish BY FAITH."

It is not by works! Nothing I can do makes me right with God! Later it describes about all the detestable things people do with eachother and Paul goes on to say in Chapter 2: "You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse!" In chapter 3 Paul references past scriptures saying, "No one is righteous-not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God." And it basically says no one is worthy of the Kingdom of God. But all the laws in the Bible have a purpose: Verse 19: "Its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show the entire world is guilty before God. For no on can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law...We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard."

"Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous...people are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood...and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus."

I ask this question, how much do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe in him enough to be free of guilt and shame and the bondage of the law? Do you believe in him so much that you see freedom in choosing to obey him? Do you love Jesus? He paid the price so that we don't have to be PERFECT. We don't need to worry. "Who can add a single second to his life by worrying?" Life for men is about standing up and accepting who we are so we can lead our families and follow our Shepherd and not fall off the path because we are in the Word and know JESUS.

Thank you for reading, amen for God's teaching...I am blown away by Jesus's sacrifice and Tuesday night, as I was reading out of Romans...I looked down and there on the floor was a salvation bracelet. I wear it around to remind me that Jesus's blood is and always will be sufficient.

Amen!

Finding a Religion YOU can GO ALL OUT FOR

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It has been a long time since I have posted a blog-in fact, my best friend and I concluded we are old men. Nate couldn't go blueberry picking with me today because his back is sore from playing basketball. I then told him I wasn't sure if I'd run with him tomorrow because my days are spent carrying giant trays and setting tables at the Red Mill Restaurant and I feel all tight. I could see my past leader, Seth Barnes, diagnosing us with a case of wussitus right now (being a pansy), ha. Mrs. Marshall (my neighbor) and I were talking at Church today and I told her I would write a blog if I had time. Well, praise the Lord for our Wussitus, it freed me up!

Let me fill you in on the life of Joe Carter and his adventures with Jesus Christ. I got back from Nicaragua and the Lord put it on my heart to work with Bill O'neil and have a Men's Breakfast every Saturday. Amen for this! Each week gives me more encouragement and this week I brought no bacon. A Pastor from a different Church who knows what's what says, "we've got to have meat," and he walked to a nearby store-The Corner Store-and bought bacon and sausage for us, ahhh yeeeah. At these Men's Breakfasts we enjoy fellowship and food and we study the scripture and later pray for it's application in our lives.

Also, there is an awesome ministry, that the Lord used Brutha John Rood to start, every Friday night. I prayed to have Friday nights off from work, which is the busiest night at the restaurant, and the Lord touched my Jolly South African Boss's heart.

"Sure, sure you can have it off. No problem," he said. Praise God! These nights are frightening yet give me more joy, adrenaline, and spiritual angst in the end than anything. A group of variety from age 14-20ish gets together and we go to pretty much the heaviest populated street in Vermont, Church Street, and break into groups of two or three and spread the good news! This is hard for me because I run into old friends there and lots of people are set financially and don't think they need a savior; It's a little easier because I don't have to talk in Spanish. My work place has given me so many opportunities to share my faith. The Lord has given me courage and wisdom. He has blessed me, I even have an automatic humbler. Most mornings before guests arrive I strap a vacuum to my back and enjoy being called a "Ghost-Buster" and my favorite, "Johnny Quest," haha. The Lord really prepares me each day and gives me many opportunities to minister to people.

I was told a while back that we connect well with specific people for a reason. God has a plan with it. Last night, a high school guy I work with and connect with very well, hit me with a nuke, a divinely appointed appointment. We were drying cups side by side when he said,

"Hey Joe, I'm looking for a religion I can go all out in, I mean I'm a Christian (then with an excited look) but I want to just find that religion." I asked him a few more questions but then the conversation came to a light-hearted subject and before I knew it, it was over. I have quoted scripture to him before, "Those who work deserve to be fed," Mathew 10:10, and I think he knows I am a Christian so I decided not to jut-in and say that following Jesus is the greatest thing in my life...but I hope to get there with him. I praise God and pray he can use me in his plan. Please pray for this, the Church street ministry and the Men's Breakfast. John Rood is currently serving the Lord with all his heart (passing out Gospel track from busses, playing the drums) in the Bronx, NYC. Pray for his protection and for God to show up in power wherever he goes.

Turn to John 10:2-4. It says, "The man who enters by the gate is the Shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice." It goes on in verse 9-10: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. This last verse is one of my favorites and it should have two exclamation points in the Bible. Read verse 11-15.

Is this not an awesome reason to go all out for Jesus?! Even to be persecuted and scoffed at for Jesus is an honor because he loves us so much! Be encouraged by this and follow your Shepherd. A great way to know his voice is to read about him so read that Bible as much as you can so you wont be fooled by the thief in this passage who tries to steal our lives. Here is a little poem I wrote last week while I was in the middle of a field across from my house. It is a prayer of mine I but I hope it can be yours too. However, it compares nothing to any poem in Psalms so read that afterwards.

The Field

My father in heaven

How your splendor shines

And a field of your chorus hums what I can imagine,

with each sound,

"Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord almighty."

A breeze is gentle when it needs to be

as the unseen flows from your lips.

Though when the sun scorches hot I will endure

and praise your name just the same

with your flame in my heart.

Let each inhale of air draw me nearer

and each inspired text I read be written forever

on my heart.

Amen.

Thank you very much for reading and have a fantastic week and go all out wherever your shepherd is leading you now!

-Joe Carter

The Great Commission

Sun, 3 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Sir or Mam or just Sam. I am posting again so soon because this morning I listened to some friends from my home church talk about their Missions trip to the Bronx. John, Virginia, Bill O, and David, your passion about the way God was using you and his power in your lives put words on my heart that I couldn't talk about. I prayed God would allow me to express them somehow and I came out with a poem. "The Great Commission" sums up the call I was feeling from hearing you guys talk. Thank you for speaking in front of the church and inspiring me this morning. This is an expression of what I was feeling, I pray that God uses this to inspire you who are reading.

Groveling selfish me constantly asking God to grow and change me

Frustrations in my quest for his face

Realigned this morning

Hearing passionate words of friends from the church

The bride

Following a great commission.

Commission me now,

You pass me through the lava

Only to cool me with the liquid of life.

The timing is inexplicable.

My purpose now clear

It's not about me and my fear

It's about those whose souls should fear

Those with a real reason to despair

Enduring the wear

Of the bondage of Satan.

Makes me compassionate

Brings the care from me to you

It's not the healthy God cures,

It's true that it's the lame

The broken down with shame

The maimed

Those where you live and you die

That's the name of the game.

Let me explain

You must call on his name

Fall on your knees

Say God please,

And join me in the eternal party

Your throne your home

Heaven beckons you

Take the call

Remove the filthy shawl

White linen touches your leg

It reaches out.

Step

Step into your heritage

You don't have to beg

Pray with me and you'll see

Freedom

And the purpose of your life

Won't be to make love

It will be to love

Accept the name of love.

Amen! Thank you for reading. If you aren't from my church and want to be inspired like I was go to http://www.pantonchurch.com/index.html and listen to the last two podcasts. Have a stellar Day-

-Jose-

Did you know I wear size 12 1/2 shoes?

Sat, 2 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hellooo you who are reading, how is the day treating you so far? I am sorry that it has been a while that I have posted a blog-I have been wicked busy for the past few weeks with the 5k race and with my parents swinging by for a bit. Yet, I am here, writing now so all thoughts of hatred towards me should melt away. Right now I am tempted to call a collective prayer and fast against the Lakers winning the championship. Is anyone with me? When I think of Kobe Bryant it makes me sick.

Anyway, I am going to fill you in on my thoughts as of late, how my ministries are going, and about the 5k!

Well, first, I've got to spread the word about the 5k. I am still baffled and piecing together everything that happened. A friend on the team asked me, "Joe, how does it feel to have followed God and have everything work out." He recognized the true power of God at work with the 5k. I still don't think I am at that point. So, I stood up in my church eight months ago and told them that I might do some kind of 5k in Nicaragua. Four months later, I suggested it to my leaders and here is what I found myself in:

IN a room with the President of Young life, representatives from the police, a translator, a representative from the head of the school board (over sixteen schools), the leader of the sports college in Granada, Sarah Kaye (head missionary here), Seth Barnes (my leader), Ismael (Christian Radio guy), and Sarah Morgan (my partner in this)-and everybody is looking to me as to how to run a 5k. JOSE! How does a 5k work? How does it raise money? What was your vision? "Joe, we should have a segregated race, Nicaraguans and then Americans." Usually, the meetings lasted for 2 hours!

Little old me who has run a ton of races but the race is always a blur of death and a swirling crowd, I don't know anything, I'm a dumbhead (as my Grandmother puts it, ha). So I get a revelation from God and now everyone is looking at me to tell them the answers. Well, God gave me the wisdom to look to him for the answers and the humility to present them. I was prepared to answer every question and it was amazing because every time I spoke, every head in the room would turn to me. It was all God, through and through.

So here is some of God's work:

-Permission from the Mayor

-Police present at the race

-Ambulance at the race

-Twelve of the best prize baskets I have ever seen

-Medals for the top finisher in each category (with inscriptions)

-Trophies for the overall Men's and Women's winner

-Art competition with Young Life at a studio to see who could make the best advertisement flyer.

-16 Christian Missionaries willing to help

-Sarah Kaye going all out to support this

-Sarah Morgan heard God's call to help me and responded wholeheartedly

-Race rally in a fancy hotel three days prior to the race

-Opportunity to share my testimony at the rally and during the awards ceremony

-Spoke on the radio on three different occasions and they announced my birthday over the radio and invited the community to party in the main park-ha

-Every time I suggested something that was on my heart people immediately responded enthusiastically.

-We had a pace car

-We had clowns at the race

-We had a Christian worship band at the race

-All the prizes were donated, including a nice bike and 5 gallons of paint!

-A gift package of books was donated to 16 schools (the prenup. was they needed to enter at least 10 kids from each school)

-16 friends posted a support page, for Young Life, on their blog.

-We had two water stations on the course and one at the finish. A total of 953 bags of water were made by the kids from young life and our team (fo' free).

-Each person that ran got a homemade number

-109 people ran the race including my Dad and an Amsterdamian-phenomenal for the first race in Granada in at least 20 years. My father won the "Veterans" category--in other words, the "old mr. what's his name" category, with a decent time.

-A kid ran 18 mins for the 5k.

-We successfully pulled off having a 2.5k for the younger kids as well.

-There is a donor in the states that will triple the amount we raised.

-We raised 1000$ just from the Nicaraguans (remember, this isn't the richest country in the world) and we are still receiving money online from champions in the U.S.

-We had a start whistle.

-It was a relatively cloudy day (97 degrees though)

-No one got hurt

-75% of the girls that ran hitched a ride in the ambulance and didn't finish.

-The Nicaraguan National Anthem was played at the race rally.

-We had a Repetadora Car go around Granada for 2 hours announcing the race.

-We have raised about 1/3 of the yearly budget for Young Life with this one event!

Wheeewww, praise God! Thank you to all who gave, it truly has an impact on the youth here. Well, the week before the race I think I had about 5 minutes of rest during the day-ask my parents and they will attest. Actually they would probably say that I have lazy bones and I just sit on the ground with my face hanging out. They don't know the meaning of hard labor, of course. It was excellent to show my parents around the neighborhood, I even took them to the Death Zone.

Yep, so I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I am leaving and might not ever see these Nicaraguan guys and girls again. It's really an awful feeling. Part of it is because I have been trying to pour myself out to the guys here and minister to them and know a lot of their problems. I have gotten really close with a lot of the people here. For me though, I am going back to my crew back home-they are staying here and it's not like they can turn around and have their own little posse there. Leaving is going to be awful, but coming back is going to be great-if that makes sense. I can't wait to camp out with my friends on our upcoming kayak trip in which we will bring no sleeping bags or pillows, just bacon.

Speaking of life back in Vermont, I would like to give a shout out to Bill O'neil, Virginia, John, and David--I hear NY was exactly what the doctor ordered. I would love to hear more about the hood and God and how the trip impacted you all. Today i'll listen the the podcast from last Sunday so that should give me a pretty good Gist of things. Just a random thought, I would love to have a verse that has been on your mind or one that you like.

Isaiah 42:9 "See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."

Well, keep the peace and please pray that I will continue to drive after Jesus and thank Him for all of the encouragement, prayers, and donations you have given. So far, I have received $6,848 in support for this trip, which is amazing! I only have $281 left to go. I trust God on this last bit and if you are not in a position to give, will you please pray too? Also, I am praying through what this summer will look like and accepting that sometimes God withholds direction in our lives for a time so we can step into the unknown using faith. Pray that my faith grows. Have an excellent day, shwupow, thanks for reading-

-Joooseee

Vida Joven 5k!

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey faithful blog readers and supporters, this is Joe Carter from Vermont and the FYM Nicaragua team. I am writing on behalf of a vision I received from Jesus before coming to Nicaragua. The vision took form as I scrambled to tell my church how God would use me in Nicaragua, "with a 5k or something," I responded. Having been a runner for seven years, I took this idea very lightly-if I am following God, why would he use my passion that has nothing to do with His kingdom? I forgot the vision until the second semester, after learning that God created every desire and everything about me in a purposeful way.

         It began to burn on my heart to organize a 5k race for organizations that needed money and I talked to my leaders about it. This was all I really had to do-besides the most important thing, pray. Next, my new leader Seth and teammate Sarah were inspired to help and our local translator Mario was used by God for his knowledge of local businesses. Later, I learned that Young Life, which draws 80+ teenagers from the temptations of the street life into the church, was hurting financially. With Young Life, the youth in the community are able to play games, worship Jesus, act out Bible stories and attend Christian sport camps. As a result of the program I have seen many young people, through tears, commit their lives to Jesus. Through prayer the Lord led me to have the race benefit this program in Granada.

         What an experience it has been following God through this vision. Everything has fallen into place, including the Great Deceiver. Money is our greatest distraction and we have fought fear of not raising enough. One issue was on the racing fee. First, we decided to charge each runner 40 cords (2$) and then it was more and later less. One night I approached God frustrated because I couldn't believe how cheap we were making the race.

         Then, God rocked me. He clearly told me to stop thinking about the money and to lay it on him. Thus, I concluded to drop the racing fee and trust God that the money will come. Last night, God put it on my heart to write you this note. I ask that you take this event with discernment, read below about Young Life and contribute in whatever way God leads. If you would like to give financially, please follow the directions below. Also, here are 3 ways you can pray for Young Life:

That God will provide financially.

More hearts will be drawn to Jesus.

Leaders will rise up from the youth who spread their faith boldly.

Thank you very much for reading. I invite you to be a part of the change happening in Granada.

            From a brother in Christ,

Jose
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Granada welcomed Vida Joven, or Nicaragua's Young Life, in September of last year. The program has been wildly successful, demonstrating that young people here are hungry for wholesome alternatives to drugs, alcohol and life on the streets. El Puente is bursting with kids each Thursday night, and we've expanded the program with additional offerings throughout the week.

However, financing the program is not easy. Joe, a member of our Awakening team, suggested we put on a 5K Fun Run in Granada to spread the word and raise support. The city has given its blessing, and we are scheduled to go on April 25th. As the first event of this sort for all of us, we are looking for ways to make this a success for the kids. AIM has opened a dedicated account in which sponsorship funds may be collected. If you would like to sponsor young people in this race, we'd like to make this account available to you as well. If you'd like to help, we suggest the following sponsorship levels:

Single Sponsorship: $5

Triple Sponsorship: $15

Quintuplets: $25

Ten Youngsters: $50

Of course, you could give more or less, as your budget allows. All funds collected will go directly to the Granada Vida Joven Club. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for your consideration, and for helping these kids step out in faith.

El Puente, Granada, Nicaragua

Checks may be mailed to:

Adventures in Missions

6000 Wellspring Trail

Gainesville, GA 30506

Attention: Nicaragua Kids Camp Fun Run

or, Contributions may be made online at:

https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace

Once you are on the web page, you:

1. In the drop down menu select "Support A World Race Project"

2. In the Project box that appears, type in: Nicaragua Kids Camp Fun Run

3. Follow the donation process through.

Don't forget this!

Please Read:

One of the lives impacted by Young Life:

This morning Seth interviewed Oscar Gutirrez. He grew up in a world of soccer, parties, and girls and his life has been changed through the ministry of Vida Joven (VJ - In English, Young Life), a ministry we have been heavily involved with here in Granada. Now soccer is a tool for him to invite kids to VJ, he is preparing to be a leader in the program, and he is continuing his education in the university that he withdrew from three years ago. This is his story...

Before VJ, before I knew anything about it, my life was completely dedicated to partying. I toyed with the emotions of girls and smoked a lot. When I started partying, I wasn't necessarily smoking and into many vices, but the more I got into it, my life started spiraling downward. I got into marijuana a few times. This whole scene lasted about eight months, and looking back, I felt like my life had no meaning.

In September of 2008, I met a girl. When I met her, she didn't tell me anything about Young Life. She was hanging out with a couple of other girls who wanted us to go to Young Life's club, so I went with them. In the club, we watched a video about a guy named Nick, who should have been incapacitated, but functioned very well considering his circumstances. I saw in this video that nothing was impossible.

Shortly thereafter I had the opportunity to go to my first VJ sports camp. At the camp they took us to a labyrinth and taught us about listening to God's voice. I tried it out, but it was very difficult for me to hear him. The camp was good because, while they were somewhat restrictive, but they weren't legalistic. They made me not want to do the things I had been doing.

Following this I was invited on another VJ camp. When we were there, we had a time of worshiping God. Something moved me to tears during the singing. I was closing my eyes, and when I opened them, I looked down at the floor and I saw the face of Jesus. I sobbed uncontrollably as I felt the Lord calling me. I felt him intimately; I knew then that he cared for me. This motivated me to give my testimony about my life and what I was still doing to the others that were with me. They were people from my city that knew me or knew of me before. Before I started talking, I didn't feel like I'd have the words to speak because I was embarrassed, but my heart compelled me. I wanted to express that yes, I can change and others can too.

VJ is very close to my heart. It introduced me to Jesus and taught me how to move forward in my life. I know that because it has done this for me, it will continue to do so with others as well, and I want to be a part of it. I love that sports can still be a part of my life and I can actually use it to reach out to other kids. Now, I am focused on other kids and it's given me direction and meaning. I'm moving forward. I am available and want to be available for the kids at VJ. We have a vision to change their lives and facilitate an encounter with the Lord. I am really excited about VJ. I love it! I want to continue moving forward to be a great leader for them. I believe in this vision; it changed my life and it will continue to change lives.

--Oscar Gutirrez

Da fundamentals

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Ayy, how's it going? Are you happy about the Tar Heels taking the tournament title from Michigan? It would have been great to see Michigan win-but it would have also been great to see the game. I hear it was a blowout. Also, wow, Nathaniel Huff has been hitched, glory bee, the funks on me. Excellent news, a shout out goes to the newly weds.

I have got a question for you because I am in a culture where this is a very real thing. Have you ever been starving before? I say that I am starving all the time and I mean it, but I am talking about starving without the ability to find food. What about wicked thirsty? I spent three days (two nights) in the jungle last week, completely alone, and I dropped a quarter of my water on the way to my camp. I was so thirsty during those long, hot days that I prayed God would sustain me-which, he did. In a moment of desperation, I moved towards my water with the intent of finishing it off with still a full day left and then I ran smack into an angelic, girly figure. It turned out to be Seth Barnes Jr. holding two coconuts with a smile on his face. These he gave to me so the rest of the day, from three until the sun went down, I spent praising God (sometimes at the top of my lungs) and talking to God. I was so desperate for help from God that went it came I was elated.

This is a lot what the Nicaraguan culture is like. Many are desperate for help and for answers to their problems though most never admit it. They put on a front much like I do when I am in the kitchen pretending that my insides are not about to fall out from hunger by putting on a, "Hey, I'm gonna knife you if you touch that bread foo," attitude. When we share the Gospel message or invite them to a Bible study or church, most come. They come because they need help and they are always on their last option. This desperation causes quite the worship scene always. Every song has the most intense clapping ever but Nicaraguans don't know how to clap so there is just a constant loud noise coming from a sea of hands. On Tuesday, the Pastor's wife informed me that her church was undergoing a 72-hour fast and prayer Fri-Sunday because they are desperate for God's help. The last Pastor was an alcoholic and left a year ago, deep into sin. This has caused the community to judge the church that we have been helping called, "The light of the World." It was prophesied that the Devil was going to come against the church in a strong way and so immediately the congregation turned to God.

I see motivations of fear, of hunger and thirst, and out of love for Jesus. Friends I have talked to in the United States that aren't Christians have a different view of Christianity. How can it be a solution if we have no problems? Maybe the financial situation we are in with the economy will help to bring more desperation. We all need to be saved by Jesus and as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:15, "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." This verse sums up my quest (if you will), not living for myself but for Jesus. Seeking to serve Him. This has been the hardest battle for me but reading this calling straight from the Bible really hones me in on the purpose of life.

It is amazing to be taken care of by God. These days have been very hard for me mentally and physically. I am trying to devote all I can to living out my faith and being a missionary here makes it really hard. There is this expectation from all the teenage thugs here that because I am Missionary, everything is excellent and easy in my life. They are always coming up to me and excitedly yelling, aaaayy, JOSE! Sometimes though, things aren't alright and I am either burned out or struggling with the new way of thinking and viewing the world, which makes putting on a smile and giving bones or knucks (pounding fists) hard. When I look to the fundamentals of Christianity, however, and get away from the world, life is much easier to put into perspective. If any of you reading are being bogged down or feeling crappy, know what I am learning: No one has it all together. It is freedom to think of this.

Aight, it's time for this cat to bounce. I am going to put up a blog about the impending 5k RACE very soon so be ready! I'd like to give a shout out to my family on this Easter-Happy Eastuh Mom, Dad, Josh, Shep, and Lindsey..."Easter is going to be a little different this year guys, don't expect muuuch."
Thank you so much for your prayers, God is demonstrating his power so much, I have stories to spread because of your prayers and encouraging comments. I am so blessed to have people that love me enough to pray. I pray that this blog positively affects your day and God will reveal his hear to you. Thank you for reading and I hope the rest of your day is fantastic-

-Jose

Flirtin' Wit Disastuh

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Good day to you who are reading, I hope you are doing faaaantastic. Are you learning anything these days about life? If so, definitely write it down. Jesus has taught me a lot the past few days and I decided the other day to write my thoughts down. I have been debating whether or not to post these thoughts on a blog or not. These thoughts were not intended for anyone to read but the whole time I was writing I felt that other people should read so here it is, Joe Carter's Official Journal Entry Two Thousand Double O Nine.

Saved by God's Grace

It is by the grace of Jesus that I am writing what I have learned down. Where is my wisdom without the word of God? How subtle darkness is in life. I write this note to myself with thanksgiving to my savior who does not let me fall off the edge or into the traps the enemy makes, using my own funding for each snare. I write four years after an event that changed the course of my life and see it as a foreshadowing into the spiritual journey I see taking form.

Last Monday (3/23/09), I saw a vision in the Nicaraguan HOP that led Seth Barnes Jr. to speak in tongues and receive a revelation from God for me. He said that, "God seeks to make all things new," which I remember him repeating, and also, "God will heal you and it will be a testimony to many people." I jumped to a conclusion that it was for my Barrio ministry because I had been praying for the last hour needing direction from God about whether or not we should go through with our plan to teach the kids about healing or not. Seth then assured me that he felt God's words were for my life. I, even now, take these words to heart and that night I began anticipating the ways I could get hurt the next day-the worst was tearing my knee. I wanted to see more visions, my heart was incredibly excited and then I demanded I see more for the sake of my faith and those I am ministering to.

For the first time I began to speak in tongues-initially laughing because I accidentally snuck some Spanish words in there. Next, I prayed for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and asked for the gift of speaking in tongues. It happened and as I spoke my voice drained out and words from Jesus resonated in my mind. "Don't be hasty my Son. Don't be hasty, my Son, my Son." As I repeated phrases these words miraculously spoke to my heart. I wanted so bad to get direction from God about my VBS ministry right in the moment; these words served to put me in check and trust God that a plan will come. Seth had already left and because he said he thought God wanted to speak to me through a dream I decided it was time to head to bed. I slept with a headlamp, pen, and paper at my bedside, earnestly awaiting a prophetic dream from Jesus. Though I woke up several times praying, the morning came and I could not remember any visions.

The day before God had put three distinct stories on my heart: first, the story of Laserath, then Zacheas and then the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Trying to not be hasty, I decided to teach the Parable, focusing on the foundation of Christianity: love. God gave me a very concise schedule for VBS and everything flowed together during the ministry that morning. I was able to finish by teaching, "The Great Commission," to the kids; I linked God's love for us, the lost sheep, to the command to love God and then asked, "Who loves themselves?" After we encouraged all the kids to raise their hands, I sent them out with the command from the Bible: "Love your neighbor as yourself." I asked them to have stories ready for the next VBS. It was our best VBS yet.

Life was going very well and I was feeling pretty good about myself and the ways God was using me in the 5k-race. One of my leaders even wrote a blog about me, which was very encouraging. The whole community here was showing their love to me-on a walk to the Internet I talked to about fifteen Nicaraguans. Then I forgot my Bible at Corazon Contento (the special needs center) and decided that I could use some time anyway to allow what I had been learning about to sink in so I casually asked a teammate to pick it up who later forgot. Then I received an e-mail from my parents saying I got a $2500-4000 scholarship to run for Cedarville and I even got my first love letter from a Nicaraguan girl in my ESL class, ha. Things were great and was feeling very confident in where I was at with my faith and pretty popular. I was slowly led into this security. Though it is good to feel secure, pride was slithering in.

Four years ago I found out I needed surgery on my leg and I was going to have to spend my sophomore winter recovering. I was angry at God but recovered remarkably quick and by the spring I had the number one seed for the mile at states (though I was beaten by two seniors on the last lap). I see a parallel of this event to my life right now as I write with one hand. As a sophomore in high school I had fallen asleep in my faith until God woke me up and as I read the other day in, "The Final Quest," "Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall;" God woke me up as I dangerously walked towards the edge so many have fallen off due to pride. A God that truly loves me loved me enough to see my physical body hurt to save my spiritual being. So instead of taking a spiritual fall, which really matters in life, yesterday my body launched itself in the air as I kicked the air and not the soccer ball, and I reached backwards to catch my fall, which fractured my wrist.

I have grown tremendously already going through the frustrations of having every task I do take forever and having to ask my teammates for help washing dishes or doing trivial tasks. All my life I have felt pretty invincible and my reputation sent daggers in my way as a teammate commented, "I can't believe it, the great Joe Carter is broken." It has been one thing to be broken mentally, but physically it has been a challenge. However, I write with victory in mind as I just had an awesome experience where instead of thinking of all the terrible things that have resulted from my broken wrist, I decided to praise God for all the good things in my life. After ten minutes I realized my God really does care about me and wants me to grow. My thoughts are excitedly drawn to the prophetic words Seth said in the prayer house that I would be healed and it would touch many lives. He prophesied it, four days later I broke my wrist and on Monday we are going to teach our VBS, as planned three weeks ago, on the story of the healing/raising of the dead of Laserath.

Isaiah 42:6-9 "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open the eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeons those who sit in darkness. "I am the lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."

Okay, so really deep, intense, new, touchy things right? Remember that the Bible says we should seek spiritual gifts and I am trying to as I strive to reach fullness in Christ. It feels like all my friends back home and my Grandmother would call me crazy for writing these things or feeling this way-but I say go big or go home. If I am going to try and really live the Christian life, why hold anything back? Why not act wholeheartedly on what I am learning while I am living with a team of likeminded supporters? So I am supposed to be "casted" for four weeks-No RUNNING. GAAA, pray that God give me the perseverance to grow through this trial in my life. Please, write down any thoughts you have about what I have written because I know that a bulk of what I am learning is an uncomfortable subject for a lot of people-myself included. Thanks for reading today, pray I will be healed, and I will continue to give thanks for my supporters!

-Jose Cartier

Lesson Learned

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Buenas Dias Todos! I have missed blogging these days, I miss telling you about my life and my heart seems to burn to tell everyone about what God is doing in my life! Ayy, I didn't die in Costa Rica; in fact, I lived! I was able to run five times down the miles of beaches, it felt so good, I love to run-did you know that? Our Costa Rica group-Heather K., J.D, Annie, Laura and I ate like kings, choked on water in restaurants, got sunburned (my Vermont skin had a nice awakening), J.D and I surfed like wild men and I got wicked hurt (flipped on a wave and the board wailed me in the face; there was blood everywhere), and God revealed himself to me in a very new way! I'm constantly learning new things about Jesus and the more I learn, the more I fall in love with my creator and learn just how lost I am, which is a good thing that I will explain later. God continues to raise the amazing bar with the 5k-race, more and more ideas seem to pour in and everything stems back to prayer. Without prayer, this race would go nowhere. So, I'll share events in my life and then I will share what God has taught me through them. Ready? Todos Listos?

First off, Costa Rica was awesome but it was a spiritual struggle for me. Going from a missionary group where the girls wear one piece bathing suites to a giant beach where a combination of all the bathing suites on the beach would sew one shirt is hard for any guy-I don't care if you are John Paul or Gandhi. I was attacked all week by my own sinful desires and it was very hard for me to control my eyes and mind. Amidst my failings, however, I felt Jesus beside me the whole way. I take comfort in knowing that Jesus came to earth, was tempted just like me, yet he succeeded beyond imagination. Jesus is the man, yet me, I take my comfort in knowing I am not perfect, I have freedom to fail, and Jesus understands everything I go through and seeks to save me every day. I lose my identity all the time to the things of this world. I sell out my identity: BUT: As soon as I turn back to Jesus and remember who I am, a child of God and someone who enjoys running because Jesus made me that way, holy schmokes, life is so much better. When I choose to sin, it reminds me whose righteousness I am really relying on in order to be saved-Jesus Christ's. Charles Kaye, the head missionary that lives here, has been talking about the Parable of the Lost sheep and the Lost Coin and the Lost Son found in Luke: 15 for the past few Sundays. Do you know what? I am not ashamed or afraid to accept each identity, from the older brother who was, "Angry," as it says in Luke 15:28, to the rebellious son to the lost sheep or coin. In fact, when I do so it gives me more confidence because it puts me in a place where I don't have to rely on my own strength or wisdom because I am just ole Joe schmoe, I receive the strength and wisdom from God himself. Amen!

So, yesterday gave me a story. With determination to do a hard tempo run, I start my ten minute warm up jog. I get back and see about 16 of the local kids age 2-6 crowded around something screaming and screaming. At a closer glance I see a fat pig tied up in a hole and it is just squealing it's brains out. Shocked, I watch the adults lift the pig into a box attached to a bicycle. Two minutes of intense flailing go by and finally the pig is locked into the cage. I resolve that I need to do my Track warm-ups (A-skips, B-skips, grapevines, bicycles, chicken walks, Can-cans, the whole deal!). I start, dreading the time it is going to take and, ha, all these little guys, little louise and his 3-year-old legs, are skipping around trying to impersonate me and laughing at me. I decide to play it off cool and do the most normal routines and more kids join: they are all so excited.

"Forget it," I think,

"I am going to make them look ridiculous too." I start jogging around and flap my arms making chicken noises and the kids toot their little Spanish mouths, so funny. Then the races start. We tear off and have like 10 races. I have to go all out each time because the kids cheat like bandits but after like 20 minutes I tell the kids, "Okay I have to run, a BIG distance, so Adios."

"We'll come with you," they cheer.

"Oh jeeze, I am backed into a corner now..." I think.

Then, they all excitedly yell, "Futbol, Futbol!" Ag, I reluctantly give in, and put on my excited face and get them all riled up to have a game in the street. One kid tears off and grabs a ball and before I know it, the sixteen ninos are gazing at me as their leader in organizing a game. "Okay," I think, "First I need to have them choose two teams." Again, before I knew it, it was Spain Vs. Real Madrid, a battle of 2-6 year olds. Blood spills, Louise falls and eats dirt but the champion holds it in and cries for just 30 seconds and another, Orlando has a similar fate. The ending score is 2-5 and I try to leave again but only get frowns. I decide to run these kids ragged, and we do a strength circuit. Jumping jacks, push-ups, running in place, and more races-the kids eat it all up! Finally, I am too tired for a workout and the kids are all dehydrated so I bring them water. What a great, unplanned gift from God!

Another blessing from God is a special story from a financial standpoint. To hit my quota for my trip financially, I needed to raise about $620 last month. Well, I got an e-mail from my mothah while I was in Costa Rica, excitedly explaining to me that three separate donations came in, giving me exactly what I needed with three dollars to spare! This is something she had been praying for diligently! Wooo, yeeeeeeah, thank you to everyone who gave and who have been praying for me. It has such an impact on my life and I am so blessed to have this missions opportunity in Nicaragua. Take advantage and share the Gospel where you are too. Thank you all so much for the encouraging comments, they give me so much confidence to share the Gospel and lift me up whenever I read them. The prayer house video that Caleb and JD and Annie have been working on SO diligently, is hopefully on this blog, I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DR8Zc4ktHeAc%26feature%3Dchannel_page

(Above is our Prayer Committee in the Barrio Santa Rosa!)

Pray for our prayer ministries!

Pray for the 5k Race! We have an official name, course, police, permission from the Mayor, schools will be involved, there is a 2.5k for walkers and youth, and many more things are happening! Many people from our team are with Vida Joven in Mategalpa at a soccer camp so pray that kids will come to know Jesus. Please pray that I will grow more and more confident in my identity with Jesus!

That is it for today, I thank Jesus for my Panton Community Baptist Church and friends and family back home that support me each day.

Keep rockin' and rollin'

-Jose Cartier

Shinanigans

Fri, 6 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey my faithful supporter and encourager, thanks for checking in on me today; it feels like I am talking directly to you right now, I can picture so many friends and families from my church and wherever you may be from. I have a lot on my heart to share mostly because I have grown so much and God has used me in intense ways the last week and a half. God seems to have crammed in as much as he could with my life before I embark for Costa Rica tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. I cannot wait to share everything with you and can't wait to throw in some prayer requests because Jesus listens and I feel his Powah!

To start, I am going to work backwards going from what is fresh in my mind, backwards to the open spaces and beyond. Last night, I had the privilege of sharing my testimony in front of a crowd of 30-40 guys and girls ranging from age 8-45! God put a vision on my heart to schedule a night for the community in Santa Rosa, so I assembled a team--Caleb Spitler, Laura Overs, Melissa Brown, and Mario--and worked to bring things from my heart and head into reality. I sat down and wrote a schedule, which came surprisingly easy--of course it did though because it was in God's will. The night planned was: 6:45 p.m: Act Jesus Crucifixion play we learned in Georgia, 7:15: Caleb explains the significance of the characters and shares what is on his heart, 7:40: I share my testimony and invite all to accept Jesus or renew their relationship with God, 8:00: Worship songs by Caleb, 8:15: social time with Picos (amazing bread), and bounce out. No kids accepted Christ but through our emotions, stories, and awesome worship I know we planted seeds!

Yesterday morning I had a fantastic meeting with the fundraising committee for Vida Joven in Nicaragua. Things started out a little rough because the President and other members didn't understand the concept of money being raised from a 5k race, but eventually, after we explained all of our plans to raise money: Factories, Tourists, Radio, Newspaper, Tv, Mayor, Blog websites, international residencees they were pumped. We have contacts in each categoryyeah yeeeeaah. After all was said and done I tried to finish things up but they wanted more and actually formed committees amongst themselves and we will meet up the Monday after my Costa Rica trip and see how our progress is. One guy said in Spanish, "The Mayor is in the bag."

I have been so blessed to be put in many different leadership positions and have such great followers. Caleb S. and Laura Overs have been so great about following me in our VBS ministry. I have been learning a lot about what it means to be a leader. Empowering people I feel is one of the most important things to do as a leader and I learned this because for a while I was trying to do everything myself and being certain and all manly. Really, it takes more of a humble, discerning heart that is open to different suggestions--I am so lucky to have two awesome friends to have patience with me as I grow. This week on Tuesday we met with many members of the community and I have been working on learning, "Come, Now is the Time to Worship," on my guitar and I was so amped to smoke the song. We started out with prayer, explained the agenda, and then I picked up my guitar like a wild man. I strummed a few awkward chords and started singing in Spanish. The whole room was quite, no one sang and I got like every chord wrong. I put the guitar down and sang acappella and thankfully Mario and Caleb joined in and the sweat on my forehead began to cool. JEEZE, it's hard to lead music--what an aweful experience, at least I tried though, ha. We then had a time for people to give the glory to God and two great stories came up, and are still fresh in my mind. A mother spoke up about her son, so thankful to God. She described her son: He rode on his bicycle home from work the other night and was traveling on his usual route on a newly paved road. All of the sudden, he stopped and had an intense feeling like he needed to turn around and go the rougher, more dangerous way. He did so and apparently there were two men waiting to rob him that night. They saw him turn around so they went to his house. When he arrived, one was waiting for him inside and one was waiting for him outside. My daughter and I saw them and picked up boards and as my son made it to the house we were able to scare them off. "God protects those that follow him." Amen. Another was from the Pastor's wife, Maria. She told us that her husband, who is never late, missed his usual bus that crashed and flipped over many times--it was all over the newspapers. He made it home late, but God kept him safe. Ahhh yeaaah.

Lastly, Monday morning, Caleb, Natalia, Laura and I led our Vacation Bible School ministry in the Barrio Santa Rosa. I am still in awe of how much Jesus was working through the kids and energizing us. It was great, at the end I used my Basin Harbor kids skills and wrestled all the little guys (though the ground was gravel and dirt so when they would chase me, my usual jukes would send me straight into the kids so it was more like football). We taught the story of Shadrack Meshak and intobedwego and had the kids act it out. We played a game from my old job at Basin Harbor called "Indian Chief." Also, we did a relay where kids had to hold a cup to their chests and bunny hop to a bucket and fill a bucket. Everyone got soaked and there was a lot of screaming and cheering. In this day we broke up older kids and younger kids during the prayer time. The older kids (8-13) pray more boldly and the younger kids prayed more seriously. Also, in worship all the kids sang with energy, their voices could probably be heard all over the neighborhood. That's it, Few

So, I am so thankful to God for all of my ministries! This week a new team of college students are coming in and carrying on all of our FYM team's ministries. THEY need prayer as they take a week off from college. Please pray God will rock their world. Pray for Caleb Spit and Baker as they stay back to lead the new team. Also, I would love prayer too as I grow. I need to be taught how to be a better leader now and when I return to Vermont this summer. I love leading things, it is awesome. I also made it into Cedarville and the coach wants to give me a running scholarship! My parents helped me out like crazy with all my applications, they are hip. Pray for next year for direction when I need it. Also that I will have more and more joy while following God and wont look to other things ever to find my security, wisdom, love, and strength. That would be awesome! I will continue to thank God for the Panton Community Baptist Church cats back home, you're support inspires me to run the race for God--Run with me! Corinne Kehoe, thank you for telling me about the Missions monththat is a really cool thing. I will keep you John, David, Virginia and Bill O'Neil in my prayers, I will pray he will reveal himself to you all in New York and look forward to hearing how it goes.

Aight, G-slim, it is time for me to rock out in Costa Rica, maybe I will fight a shark or two. Hopefully I will come back with some scars and tattoos, that would be ideal.

-Jose Cartier

A little Riddle from the Middle

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Yo Yo, how's it going? I have got just a few words of update for my blog today, one cool story, and I will end with a poem. Sound good? I think so.

First off, along with my VBS ministry in the Barrios, we walk around the community with the Pastor's wife of the "Light of the World" Church and invite the community to come pray for Granada with us. All I do is follow Maria and present my bright blonde hair and smile and nod, sometimes saying, "Buenos dias" or "you are the coolest person I have ever met." Last Tuesday, God met those who came, about twelve adults, and Laura, Caleb, Mario, Seth and I, in power. We started off with prayer and worship and then broke up into groups of men and women and prayed for specific needs. I am in awe of how well this time went-there were tears from grown men, one lady was healed, and everyone was vulnerable. Also, two weeks ago we asked for prayer requests and this week during our meetings, Jader stood up and praised God because after looking for a job for a long time, two days after we prayed, he had a job interview and now has a full time job. Praise God!

Also, I am headed to Costa Rica-Nicaragua shuts down on March 7^th-15^th due to a holiday-so why not go all out? Surfing is definitely in line and I am definitely doing many beach runs. I am going with four other people, J.D Russell, Annie V, Laura O, and Heather King. Leaving the Country will allow us to renew our Visas and rejuvenate. A team of missionaries is coming down in our stead and will carry on the ministries our team is involved in. The trip will be out of pocket except for 30$ given to us for food. Caleb Spitler and Baker have volunteered to stay back and hold down the fort, what champions.

The 5k-race is doing well; Mario, the man, translated our proposal into Spanish and Jener, the leader of Young life in Granada, is going to set up a meeting with all the Young Life leaders in Nicaragua so we can get their support too. I will keep you posted-oh a new plan is to have the Worship band from our Church play in the park after the awards ceremony and I think my parents are going to try and bring race prizes when they visit me in April. My Fatha is running, by the way, bringing up the rear no doubt. Ha, just kidding. I expect him to bring back some hardware to Vermont.

Okay, well yesterday I sat down in our prayer house and asked God to speak through me-I wrote these words on paper. Doing this is always an amazing experience. With this poem, it really felt like my soul was reaching out to Jesus. Hurr it is:

The Race:

Your light is what shines from within,

my face responds and complements the song

plucked with the strings of my soul.

Like a faun I jump through your fields,

oblivious to the stalkers with flashing gleams that scream

Danger, Danger.

As a father veils the eyes of his son from crude images,

so my father cloaks my being from these lions.

Father, show me this wardrobe,

one spring day,

you who are worthy of all praise.

Oh, the honey flows through my veins as my Shepherd

beckons me nearer;

On my knees I will present my ears for instruction.

Teach me how to run towards my mission,

spreading your name like water spreads itself on the land

after a dam, withholding nutrients in a scorched land,

no longer withstands.

May you break the clogs in my arteries.

May I exhale results of your hands.

Nothing compares to your inspiration,

it is above any words of worldly helpers.

And now my steps quicken,

through a forest of snares,

on the righteous path lined with wool

from a sacrificed lamb.

And onward clothed with righteousness

from your grace I push towards the clearing,

into a sunshine of your splendor

and the smile on your face.

Amen!

Lucky Charms

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Happy Valentines Day to whoever is reading today-and if you are reading past Saturday, I hope it was a good one, full of hearts and stars and horseshoes. Mine has, of course, been nothing of the sorts. On Friday, we bought a goat and killed it for a very nice Valentines Day meal. Us guys were the chefs for the girl's team and we put on some smooth Frank Sinatra during lunch, which was held on a long table with vases of flowers on it. Niiice, huh? What did you do for Valentines Day? Is this Holliday one that you hate or love?

God has caused many ministries to prosper this week: With the kids at Corazon Contento, the Vacation Bible School Barrio Ministry and the 5k-race planning that my partner in crime Sarah Morgan and I are organizing.

Monday afternoon I sewed with my favorite kids in the special needs program that I work at called Corazon Contento (Happy Heart). God has really given me a heart for these wonderful kids (shown on the left). Actually, before this, at 9:15a.m was the VBS ministry in the Barrio Santa Rosa. God brought us a smaller group this week, but we were able to interact with them on a much more personal level, so it was good. After we sung worship songs and played a name game, we had the kids act out the story of Samson and Delilah from the Bible and it was "truly brilliant" (said with an English accent). In the story of Samson, he is enticed by Delilah into spilling the secret to his strength. However, this only happens after Samson tricks Delilah multiple times. Well, we had our actor of Samson say to Delilah, "If you dance like a chicken I will lose my strength." Good thing we chose an older, reserved girl for the role. We were able to use the younger group to hold up signs for the audience. The sign they held up for the chicken dance was "Laughter." Next, we had Samson say, "If you paint my nails I will lose my strength," which was equally as embarrassing for our young Samson in front of his friends. Caleb Spitler later spoke that the strength Samson received from Jesus is available today if we pray for it. We then practiced praying silently for strength, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and for friends and family in Granada. We ended by singing the Hallelu Hallelu Halleluia song-in honor of you Mrs. Rood. We thanked God for our time together and for desiring to empower us always and sent the kids on their way.

On Tuesday morning, we gathered together and prayed for God to give us direction. Afterwards, Seth Barnes, Natalia, Migelangel (the Pastor of the church we do our VBS at), Laura Overs, and I walked around the neighborhood spreading the good news of Jesus Christ! We prayed for healing, peace, work and we even prayed for this lady who lived a wall away from a family with twelve dogs! I prayed that God would silence these yelping dogs (kill them maybe? Ha).

The rest of my week was centered on planning for the 5k-race and the official date is now April 25^th at 7:00am. I praise God for growing the vision he put on my heart four months ago. God led me to have a race to benefit a growing youth program in Granada that I work with called Young Life-it is also all over America. Sarah Morgan and Melissa, thanks to God, were inspired to help me write a formal proposal for Opportunity International that will go to the Mayor, Police, Factories, many churches, and the President of Young life. I have learned that giving myself enough time to accomplish tasks is VITAL. It was finished, but it broke my back and caused a few tempers to flare: a story for another day.

When praying just now, I asked God to lead my words and speak through me to touch people's lives. He directed me first to a verse in Mark where Jesus walks on water, but this verse didn't mention Peter at all so I turned to Mathew 14: 23-31. When reading these verses I thought of how it applies to my life. At the beginning, it says, "After he [Jesus] had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside to pray." Am I following Jesus' example as a man and working on my relationship with God? This has been a particular focus of mine this week, I even have written on a checklist [ ] Work on relationship with God. Every time I tell him, "I want to strengthen our relationship," no joke, it feels spiritually invigorating. On this earth, Jesus recognizes the importance of having a relationship with God and what a benefit it is to us when we seek to become better friends with our creator. The chapter goes on,

"When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified."

What did Jesus immediately say?

"Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid!"

Peter then says,

"Lord, if it's you...tell me to come to you on the water."

"Come." He said

"Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on water, and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, he cried out,

"Lord save me!"

"Immediately Jesus reached his hand out and caught him."

"You of little faith," he said, "Why do you doubt?"

Examining this we can draw a sound conclusion. God is not a God of terror and he calls us into situations where we may begin to "sink," but he will always be there to save us when we follow him! Amen?! This touches my heart and I hope to trust Jesus even more as we grow in our personal relationship-I hope this encourages you today.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and funny comments. They uplift me and sometimes make me feel all tingly inside (Mrs. Stapleford when you mentioned me telling you when I was younger that I was a Christian, it brought back some fuzzy memories). Pray for me that I trust God and pray that I follow God with confidence! I will keep the NYC trip in my prayers and I am so thankful to God that he has given me each one of you, my supporters, to make a difference in my life through prayer and financially. Financially, I have about $1300 to go, which is so encouraging. If God has put it on your heart to give more or for the first time, don't be scared like Peter on the water dive right in, ha. Keep it real and thanks for checking in on my ministries in Nicaragua. I can't wait for what Jesus Christ has in store for me this week!

Jose

Partay in da Barrios

Sat, 7 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Greetings from Nicaragua, how is your day so far? Always remember everything that God is doing in your life and don't forget to recognize Him for it! Is everything chill? Yeah? If not, prayer is the best response-last night, I played goalie for our team and I lost the game for us because I couldn't block the overtime penalty kicks and I was so down. At first, I turned to rap music that talked about money and girls, but that made me feel even worse. It wasn't until I went to God in my brokenness that I was filled up again with joy (and Annie and Laura made me some Hot chocolate with warm milk so that was a plus). I am going to do a little God recognition myself because I feel that people should know how awesome things have been. First, my Children's Barrio ministry! I have been excited all week to spread the news and almost put up a Thursday blog, so hurr it iz:

The walk through the Barrio is priceless-we receive many stares as three white kids and three Nicaraguans penetrate a secluded, all-Nicaraguan community. As we approach the church there is a hum of conversation and my first reaction is, "Oh, I guess they are having a service and then we will do our Vacation Bible School thing." As I walk around the corner and into a Church with "Tin roofing" walls, through an open space where a door should be, my first glimpse reveals a storm of kids, sitting in rows excitedly awaiting the arrival of "the Gringos!" It turns out; all sixty or seventy kids are waiting for us! My heart races as I check in with Jesus, "Jesus, you have to carry me through this, give me the courage, confidence and joy to carry out your will today," I pray. We start out by introducing ourselves with microphones and then Carlos, a truly gifted Nicaraguan guitar player, plays worships songs for the kids. They love it and join in! Next, we break the mass into two groups and play the name game. With the simple task of stating your name and what you like to do, most of the kids fail. I laugh so hard, watching terrified children say that their name is Jefferson and they like to play. Probably 10 kids say they like to play and the rest forget their names, ha. Afterwards, Laura Overs reads the story of David and Goliath and we have the kids act out the story. God protected the kids as David's army attacked Saul's with sticks and slingshots-thankfully no one was hurt. Next, we play Hot Potato, and use kids welling with excitement to beat on pans for our music. We play another water game and then Caleb Spitler gives a talk on prayer. He makes the connection from the story of David; David prayed with faith and God used small David to defeat a giant. We practice praying for six minutes with the kids and end with a worship song in Spanish. I am so excited as to how strong God met us in this ministry! Before we went, Caleb told us of a dream where we ministered to six kids and we were pumped about that-we had no idea the number would be over sixty! I cannot wait for next Monday and please pray for us. We are hungry for direction from God because without God, it will fail.

Also, really quick, if you were at Church when I spoke before my trip began, do you remember when I said something about a 5k race? Well, I forgot until God started prodding my heart. What another powerful thing he is doing in Grenada; Our team will be hosting a 5k race in Grenada on April 25^th! The race will be to benefit "Young Life," which is a growing youth group here. God provided me with the words to speak to the whole committee of Young Life, without a translator, last Wednesday, and they even applauded the idea. Numbers 33 is all about the Israelites wandering around in the desert. It speaks to me because God made a promise to the Israelites, just like God made me a promise when he put the race on my heart 5 months ago, he only asks that we take action and take a step of faith in him. He has yet to let me down. Pray for this ministry as well-there are so many prospects for support raising, I will keep everyone posted.

Well, a few thoughts on a teaching that our leader Seth Barnes jr. gave us on Monday night:

Mathew 1:17

-Jesus will cost you nothing, living like Christ will cost you everything.

-Jesus cares deeply for us.

-Each day we have to "surrender all" to Jesus like the worship song says.

-The Kingdom of Heaven is coming to earth; it needs to be embraced.

-Forceful men and women need to step up.

-How are we going to react to the authority on earth given to us by God?

Mathew 28:18-20 says, "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. THEREFORE, go and makes disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you ALWAYS, to the very end of the age." How awesome is that? No matter what stage of life we are in, how deep in sin we are or how on fire for Jesus we are, he is right beside us and in us.

So, I miss Vermont just a bit-mostly skiing. Are the slopes good this season? Oh, and the Bronx trip sounds great, watch out for thugs with slugs though. I will keep that ministry in my prayers, when is the "Vermont white boys from Panton clash with the Inner City gangsters of Harlem" showdown going to occur? Are the Bacon Breakfasts still occurring for the men? This is a very important tradition. Someone fill me in on the Celtics vs. Lakers battle and was Ray Allen fouled on the last shot or was he being a pansy? Hey, Much Importante: ANYONE WITH VBS EXPERIENCE, if you have suggestions as to what works and what doesn't with kids, please tell me. This week I believe we will teach the kids about Noah's ark and have a water games theme, should be nice and wet. That is it, I hope you are encouraged by my post today and have a stellar week

Jose

Grenada da da da

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Buenos Dias-Good days-to friends and brothers and sistas from other mistas. Is everyone in Vermont enjoying the blizzards? The coldest I experience here is in the cold showers in the mornings. Guess what I have been reading about? Caleb Spitler gave me this book called, "The Seven Longings of the Human heart," by Mike Bickle. It has been great so far except for now I am reading a chapter called, "The longing for Beauty." The first section is called, "Beauty Imparted, Beauty Revealed." I have always known that I posses the beauty like that displayed in "Gladiator" by Russell Crow, man Beauty, but as wild as it sounds, it has been refreshing to read about.

Among many innate desires, we have a desire to look fiiine. Some people suppress and even repent of this desire. Others go "Hog Wild," as a teammate of mine would say, and go to great lengths, doing their nails, excessive makeup-like Eric Carter on Sunday. When we allow the Holy Spirit and God's Word to, "[Show] us what God is like and then [show] us what we look like to God [our Creator], something settles in our hearts, minds, and emotions," and we find a healthy balance. All right, that is just about all I can handle talking about beauty.

Guys of the Church-Patrick, Charlie, Lawrence, Donald, David, Nathaniel, and John, to name a few-who do you want to dominate tomorrow? Shep-I know you are all about Roethlisberger...Josh...not sure if you watch football, what is it, Women's Tennis? Ha, yeahbutthesteelersaregoingtowin, endofstory. Our team here is having a Super Bowl party with barbecue chicken at Mario's house, I can't wait. (But I've got to).

Time to talk about my Barrio ministry! I had my first meeting with about fifteen parents and their children. Here is how it went down: SO, picture a nervous Joe. I am on edge, so much so that I tell my translator the wrong time to come to this meeting. Now, we have nervous Joe who is supposed to run the meeting, his two friends, Caleb Spitler and Laura and a community of Spanish-speaking Nicaraguans constricted into one room at the Pastor's house. The Nicaraguans are dead silent and, as we are waiting in vain for my translator, Mario, I decide that we should all stand up and do a prayer while we are waiting. Five minutes pass and the prayer is over and we are left to sit back down in silence. Caleb, Laura, and I are talking but no one else is. AAAAH the tension! A half an hour of this goes by and I have a revelation. SHOOT, I think I told Mario to come at 2:00 instead of 1:00. NO! Within two seconds I am tearing down a sketchy road in the Barrios to find Mario...leaving my friends behind in the silence; I feel horrible. FINALLY, Mario arrives after I called him and told him the real time and we start the meeting.

Out of my stressful situation we were able to make a joke out of things and everything was smoothed over. The community was very receptive to what I had to say and even had some suggestions. The plan is to meet at the church with the youth at 9:15 on Mondays and Tuesdays. Then, we will play some intense water games, throw some kids around, and then have a reading from Laura's Spanish/English Children's Bible and run with the theme of the week. One idea of a theme is to teach kids why we pray, how to pray, and how to pray for our friends when they are sick. Another idea is to teach kids how to Worship with their hands in the air or with their eyes closed. These themes will depend on where the Lord leads us. I cannot wait to get started-Monday is the first official day. Please pray for this ministry! God has given me a vision that He will start a revival in this neighborhood. On Tuesdays, we will have meetings from 1-3 where we will pray with the community about financial issues, our ministry, and for Church unity.

Well, that is it for today-I had a little something to say about the, "Bridal Paradigm," in the Bible, but Annette Carter said NO! One more thing, Mr. Robinson, I am really enjoying the Pod casts that you post on the Church website. I have listened to the last two and they bring me back to Vermont, the state of the brave. Thank you for posting them. Words of wisdom for the day: live life and then don't. And Bill O'Neil, in response to your comment: A fact about machetes: They are the leading cause of death to those with names that start with "B."

And Nanny you old Coot, if you are reading this I have to say-Ya Crazy.

-Jose

Tango with Mangos

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey my good friends and my fam, what's life bringing to you these days? I always try and live life as it comes, it eliminates a lot of worry but right now I am pretty stressed, not going to lie. Life is excellent and God has been working in wild ways but today, a day of decisions and college essays, is stressing me out. Will you pray that I just rest in the Joy of knowing that I am headed to heaven some time, probably when I am 72. When I think of this truth, that someone died for me so they could give me life, the choice of a college next year seems a lot less...well...like a terrible, aweful thing. Enough about me and being an Ophelia (Hamlet lovers, anyone?), what is the United Sates up to? I hear Obama has decided to not give money to other countries and that everyone with recieve like 3 or 4 g's? Crazy if that happens, people have been talking about it here in Nicaragua, about how the U.S. is going to stop supporting them. It's alright because my teammates and I are spreading the love of Jesus around so t'sall good in da hood.

Man, it is such a joy to strive and to be in God's will. John 6:32 says, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven." After Jesus says this, a crowd declares, "from now on give us this bread." What is this bread? Jesus answers, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." This is a promise to us that if we follow Jesus, we will be filled! Another great truth in the Bible is found later in verse 37, "whoever comes to me I will never drive away." I love this because it gives love to us all, offers the gift of spending eternity in bliss openly, we just need to believe and follow. In verse 45 it says, "I tell you the truth, he who believes in me has everlasting life." In addition, Bill O'Neil my brotha from anotha mutha, "He Is able!" My life here has been a constant drive to trust God in all things and trust that he is able to do alll things--especially healing. God offers all kinds of gifts for those who have faith and I have been having, as crazy as it sounds, like images in my head as to what to do during prayer and I have been praying that I trust what God is trying to tell me. Not too long ago I had a vision of myself going into a local Bario and this vision has bloomed into my childrens Bario ministry that is going to be a focus of mine this semester. A lot of these images come during our prayer in our new, "Prayer House." I can't even begin to tell you the victories that occur in this little, abandoned house in our back yard. A brother has spoken that it is a place of refuge for him and this morning, I wrote a college essay with God's help in there.

Ministries are swirling around everywhere and I can't wait to begin! This is our first week of going into our regular schedule. Tomorrow I am teaching my first ESL (English as a Second Language) class for beginners from all over our neighborhood. I told Sarah and Jennifer (my partners in this) about what you said Mr. Kessler about how when you teach a class you put up a Bible verse each day without reference and you don't talk about it. We are going to be doing this, I think it's a sweet Idea. Oh, and Seth Barnes, our new leader, and I are going to have a royal rumble soon. He wears thong sandals and told me of a pedicure he got last year in Nicaragua. I will try and defeat this abomination against all that is good and true in this world. Mmm, this is really nice, I am listening to last weeks music and sermon Podcast. Man, it makes me miss the very fine men and women of Panton Community Baptist Church. Jeeze, Mrs. Rood, your voice sounds like shaniah twain right now or someone pro like that, awesome. I am singing with you guys in my head right now, "Open the eyes of my heart lord..." very excellent. Oh, Keith Darwin, there is that truly manly voice, I heard you say, "Just the ladies." Worship is so cool because we can proclaim our love for our creator in a way that he loves. It often is a way that I thank him for his unfailing love for us all.

Well, pray for me, please--that I can learn each day how to better follow God's voice, seriously. I will pray that God takes care of our church financially and that he rise up followers of his voice too. AAAH, almost forgot, Mrs. Marshall something great happened to me the other day in my quiet time. I saw this really cool bird that had dark blue wings and a light blue body--and then one followed the other, there were two--It reminded me of what we talked about the other day and I think this realization was for you. How is Nonie doing these days, I hear she's getting better each day? I am sure she is. Just to let you guys know, Patrick went to his first ever Church service and Bible study and God definately took him from the life he knew and into the world God wanted him to be into. I believe that God has a special plans for Patricks life, once a drug addict and a loner, he now is at a Christian rehab center. He is the first American ever to go, and he knows little Spanish. Please pray that he will let God carry him through this, rather than carry the burden of recovering from years of a cigarette addiction by himself. If you are reading this and you are carrying burdens by yo' self, dont doo it, let Jesus satisfy you with his love. I have more to say, but I don't want to write a novel soo... well, peace out, listen to God, drive fast and take chances, don't care what people think about you, and vote Bob Dole.

Thanks for reading and for your support, it makes me want to eat mangos and do a tango,

-Jose Carter

Cincinnati?

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey friends and my excellent family (including those crazy ones in Maine), how is your day so far? Is there anything huge in your life that is going on right now? Remember to make all decisions out of prayer because being in God's will is such a beautiful thing, and I use that word with the knowledge that combucularschmigm and barfugal are much better words. It is wild that I have run into so many people who are seeking a purpose in life-and it is not an anomaly that all of these people are not Christians. Everyone in the whole world was created to serve God and not chase after material things but so often we do and gain satisfaction in the moment but how true is it that this satisfaction is momentary. It is such a joy to tell beggars who ask for temporary relief that I have food that lasts a lifetime and because I believe in Jesus, I want to give you the food that I love to feed on. These words, however, can have a lasting effect if they are backed up with experiences.

Over break, I was thankfully able to come back to so many friends and a loving church and a family. God left it up to me to decided whether my progress here was all for not-the words I write about in my blogs and live out in Nicaragua, did they actually carry any weight in my life? Can prayers that I so vigilantly pray for come true in my homeland, where I used to struggle so much to live out my faith in Christianity? I don't want to single out readers in my blog as far as those that I strove to minister to but it was such a joy to do so and I know that God changed me because each time I was told, "Joe, I am so proud that you are so sure of your faith and you live it out." I am so thankful that God gave me the wisdom to pray that I would stay strong in my faith and minister to my friends. It was hard, though, and some of my friends didn't hear my honest account of my beliefs but I am not going to beat myself up over this because I am not one to force my beliefs onto people. Anyway, so I have an aaawesome God story in store for you!

On Monday our team broke up into "one on one's" in order to get to know one another better and check in and be real with one another in order to see how things are going. I was paired up with my friend Laura and after walking around for a while we stopped into this caf called "Caf Mexicano." Picture a really small caf with a mother working at the counter who is the nicest lady and who is so excited to see her first customers in quite a while. In this excellent scenario there were four tables and the menu was comprised of a total of 5 things. We had a great time there and enjoyed this lady's company-she was like an excited mother making food for her kid on his first date-it was great! Afterwards, we went to a sketchy park, the same place that when Laura and Annie were previously there, a man stared at them with a smile until they got up to leave. We talked about many cool things, including my life and her life and our churches. I wish there were some cool things I could have told her about my Church-ahhh just kidding, I told her about our awesome Sunday school classes are and the great singing/worship we have and the overall loving, friendly atmosphere there is. I have yet to tell her about the manly, "Men's Bacon Breakfast," but I will. So, afterwards we did this thing called ATL, ask the Lord, and he directed us to a man in dire need. We went into a hotel to grab something to drink when this man came up to me through God's will and after the small talk, Patrick from Cincinnati, poured out his life to Laura and I. This man was at the lowest point in his life, coming off getting "played" by his boss who, after a month of working for the millionaire, cast him onto the streets with three total dollars. Patrick has no family, had no one to call on Christmas, and is stuck in Granada. His main problem was that he has had so many problems throughout his life and went through many orphanages, states and homes and was rejected at every place. At 41, he sees no point in life. No PURPOSE. Wow, did God set me and Laura up or what? Over break God planted words of wisdom as to how to answer this question in full and it was like God was speaking to me saying, "Joe, I have prepared this man's life for this moment and I have prepared your life for this moment, take advantage of what I have taught you in life and show my creation my love." WOW, so we were able to tell him his purpose and invite him to Church and a men's Bible study. Though he rejected this along with my prodding for praying for his foot, I told him that Laura and I would be praying for him and that God was going to heal his foot that night. Before, we had embarked to buy him some men's Gel Deodorant, which I feel every man should have, and some shampoo and soap, but I left my Bible with him and we prayed as we were gone that God would direct him to verses that would speak truth into his life. Well, amazingly enough, his Dad's middle name was James so he turned there and when Laura and I came back, there was Patrick, reading the Bible, praise God! James speaks a lot about the testing of our faith and the trails that we have in our life-it calls for us to persevere! We went into detail and explained this to him and also that the section "taming of the tongue" had nothing to do with snake charmers or anything wild like that. So, we left him my e-mail and left the Hotel. This week I get this e-mail: ---
On Tue, 1/13/09, jay burkhart <jay_burkhart@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: jay burkhart <jay_burkhart@yahoo.com>
Subject: can not find directions
To: jec7312@rit.edu
Cc: jay_burkhart@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 10:24 AM

i think that you are the two people i met on Monday here in granada. if this is correct please contact me and let me know where this get togther is and when

thank you for your time

jay

We met with him today, and through God using Mario, our translator, and his commonality of struggles with sin and going certain weeks with no food, we were able to get through to Patrick! Well, tomorrow Patrick will be attending this "Get Together" as he put it, at church amongst all of my Christian friends from Granada and my team. Now, every person that I have introduced to Patrick so far to that has asked how Patrick is doing, he has replied:

"Well, I've been better"

Please, pray with me that God will CHANGE THIS LINE IN PATRICKS LIFE! That he will say great someday, knowing that he is living out his purpose in life and has a sealed eternity!

I will keep everyone filled in. So you get a picture of Patrick when you pray for him, he's 41 with two tattoo sleeves down his arms and he has glasses with a great smile and laugh.

That has been my ministry choice so far, listen to God's voice where ever. I have had many visions of ministries and pray that God will bloom each one of them. Firstly, I have had a vision to go into local Barios (communities that are very poor and jammed packed with kids looking for something to do) and start up any game with them they want to play. I will bring water balloons some days and soccer jerseys other days; only after going door-to-door to talk to all the parents about who we are, Christian Missionaries, and what we are going to be doing. After games, Laura brought a Spanish children's Bible that is full of pictures and Bible stories so we will read a story to the kids each day and then explain these wonderful stories and what God does with people's lives. Also, there is a group called Young Life (Vida Jovan), which is a youth group that gets around 40-50 kids each time from Granada, and I will hopefully be working to organize and lead activities much like the "clap game" I taught those of you reading from PCBC. Another ministry I am praying about is one that helps kids around Granada with special needs. This is an amazing program and I am sure I will be writing a blog about it soon. This is where I am at so far with ministries and I am continuing to have visions of where God wants my life, pray that they continue!

Well, Psalm 31 is a beautiful chapter, please read it now. It has many great things in it and I am trying to memorize verses 1-8 and I encourage you to do the same. Mrs. Marshall, know that like Psalm 31 says, he is your rock of refuge, especially in tough times. Keyhoes, I am praying that God increase the love that is there in your marriage (which can always grow) and praying for excitement and opportunities for ministry back home. Mr. Kestler, I'm not sure how to spell your name but I thank you for your advice on teaching, I am also praying that God teaches you, and am praying through the prospect of studying to be a teacher. Roods, I am praying that God make the provisions and prepare reader's hearts that are reading his College applications and that he not become a high school dropout and fall into an addiction to the quest to find the smodem. Please pray that God will give me the time and energy to write my College essays this week and be able to still focus on my ministry here. A lot of people on our team are having a tough time with not fearing next year but so many cool things are happening that it is beginning to not matter. Well, I hope the Pistons go to the finals and beat the Lakers 4-0; this would make my trip to Granada worth it, ha.

Peace-

-Jose

We're all Here and There and Everywhere

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Bueno Dias! Vermonters and friends who live in their own little corners and nooks, how are you today? What is new? I hope you have heard of the amazing news that Allen Iverson (a.k.a artificial intelligence) and the Pistons are on quite the streak, seven wins in a row I believe (trust me, this information is very important in the grand scheme of life). Also, I have been playing some great basketball with my teammate Baker and the locals and their so-called "rules." It is great though; we met this huge man named Chris from California who is a mix between Italian, Nicaraguan, and the straight up gangsta look who has been filling us in on the way that Nicaraguans play basketball. For one, if they are embarrassed during a play, they call a foul, if they are touched in any way during a shot a foul is called, and on game point if you try and make a great post move you are going to be wrecked because there is no such thing as an "easy win" in Nicaragua. It's a great time though, you should suit up and come down here--.

My flights coming here were wild-and I am sincerely thankful for any prayers that went out because God was working to get his sons and daughters where he wanted us. Here is how it went down in Miami: I arrive in Florida, feeling slightly relaxed because my itinerary dictates that I have about 2 and a half hours before I have to fly out. I fetch my guitar from the luggage claim (and yes I will be the next Elvis when I return if you were at all wondering) and walk upstairs to the Taca International Airlines desk in order to claim my ticket and make sure my bags are okay. For some reason, for the first time in my life I do not seek to satisfy my hunger pains and actually feel a little nervous and antsy as I walk up to the Nicaraguan lady. I tell her my flight information and she smiles and checks her computer. A sudden sick feeling enters my stomach, like the one I experienced when I ate pickled octopus for the first time, as concern is shown on the lady's face.

"I am sorry, your flight is already closed..." She says.

"What? I went straight to the baggage claim and straight here after landing, how is that possible??" I interject.

"Here, look at my flight itinerary, it says I am leaving in 2 hours!" Says Joe.

"Let me check...well...we can fly you to El Salvador (pretty much China) and then we will connect you to another flight to Nicaragua." Says she.

Then something beautiful happened. Something that doesn't normally happen in life; a question that few have asked me in my life:

"Can you run?" She challenges.

"Absolutely." I answer.

"Follow me and come quickly." Like a line in a mission impossible movie, she initiates the chase.

The large line that seems to always be in front of the metal scanning line was cut through like a Rambo knife against butter. She leads me straight through and we hurriedly take out my computer and remove my shoes and my belt and my fleece and she takes off her stuff and then just like that it is all back on and we are racing through a never-ending hallway.

"Do you see that woman in the white dress? She is going to your gate, you can follow her if you want to get there quicker." She says in dramatic fashion.

"Are you going to the same place?" I ask in a manly voice.

"Then I'll stay with you." I say as she nods her head to my last question.

This dramatic event ends in me jumping in line with Caleb Spitler and Sarah Morgan and I make my flight on time. All prayers that were said for me saved me from going to El Salvador and it is so awesome to see God's hand in such a personal situation. God is just like that though, looking out for his sheep-every one of them. As I was reading the Bible today, I was directed to Jeremiah. It speaks to me because it says that wherever we are in life, wherever jobs or spouses or schooling has brought us, God is ready to bring us back home where we will be without fear with nobody missing. In Jeremiah 23: 3 it says: "I myself with gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing." Take comfort and knowing that you are one of these sheep-and if you are not, there is never a time when God is not ready to accept you into his flock. In Isaiah 43:1-3 it says: " But now, this is what the Lord says-he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." This is awesome because God knows all of us so personally and longs to bring us all into his Kingdom. It goes on to say, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you." Saying that when we pass through hard times, God will never let life's events separate us from his love. "When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." In other words, if we are worried about suffering for God, things will be okay because the arrows people can send at us will have no effect. It finishes, "I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior."

Please, keep these words close to your heart this week and I am going to do the same. I cannot thank God enough for such a welcoming community at my home Panton Community Baptist Church. It was my pleasure sharing all God has been doing in my life and I thank God that you all had such excitement and encouraging thoughts and were excellent to talk to. Please keep those that are going to Acuna, Mexico to serve God in your prayers-Good ole Bill O'neil and his Daughter Virginia from our Church and others who may have decided to listen to their call and for those at the Church in Maine. Also, we have time to hear God's calling to ministry here in Granada and to give you an update, I talked with Baker and I am going to shadow him as we travel to leaders in the community and discuss a possible jail ministry and what that would look like. Please pray that we will all be listening for God's voice the whole time. I miss you my fam, mom, Dad, Josh, Lindsey, and Shrek.

Jose Cartier-

Anticipation Babaay

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys back home and around the bush, how are you today?? It is about 12 hours before our group embarks for the homeland and I can honestly say that I am waiting in nervous/amped anticipation to see my home church and my friends-of course my family is writhing because they are about to enter the stage of desolation in the kitchen. So, just to avoid any disappointment, sadly, I ran into complications acquiring lizards...don't you think they would rot on the plane? Well, that's okay because I am bringing something better...duh. Duh. Duhh.

I am going to keep this blog short because hopefully you'll hear what has been going on straight from the prince's mouth. That is if I make it though, we leave the house at 4:30 am and I am not supposed to get in until 11:57 pm. GAAAA! It is supposed to snow in Albany, my final stop...so please pray that things go smoothly and I arrive okay. I am okay with getting beat up or thrown around, I just need to land on the ground safely. SO, this past week was FA La Na Min La Nal. We traveled to Ometepe to an orphanage and the kids that we lived with were so great. They were so eager for our love-or God's love through us. Most nights I found myself laying in a giant hammack with wicked cool kids on my lap, swaying in the wind, sunset over the lake, and two massive volcanoes, Conception and Materas, in the background. It was so rejuvenating and the food was great too. I feel like God was using it to entertain his kids and also rest me up for my trip home. We went on a sweet hike up one of the volcanoes, which took us a total of FIVE HOURS to climb! Gaaaaaa. Nasty. People were stopping so much it made it tough. However, after reaching the top, Caleb Spitler and I had enough; we sprinted down the mountain and made it down in less than 2 hours (read his blog for the full story).

Well, that is it for now. Thank you so much for all of your encouraging comments, I already feel welcomed back. I'll be seeing Vermont soon, and cannot wait to jump into some snow!

Peace-

Jose Carter

Feeel The PowAH

Sat, 6 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Heyyy my brothers and sisters at PCBC and friends reading! It baffles me that it is December 6^th already-time has flown by. I was just discussing the fact that it seems like just yesterday I was praying with Caleb Spitler and my leader Jamie at training camp about getting rid of sin in our lives. Yet, when I think of all the awesome experiences I have had and all the ways that I have been able to serve God and grow in the process it definitely seems like 2 months and 21 days to the full, ha. I am so glad to have people supporting me through encouraging posts, financially, and prayerfully. Quite recently I received a few anonymous donations and another from a friend and also, almost forgot, I have been praying and relying on God for spending money for Christmas gifts and guess what?? I received two letters in the mail yesterday with 30 dollars total in them, few, fam I guess your getting Christmas presents, niiice. I cannot wait for Sunday the 21^st of December! I am getting my pictures together for a slide show and I have some stories racked up that I feel you guys will love-. To those of you who haven't heard, I am planning on hosting a little Sunday night dinner at my hometown Panton Community Baptist Church at 6:00 pm and everyone is invited who wants to come. If you would like to bring food it would be Great! I am going to try and get together a classic Nicaraguan style meal, lizard probably, maybe a few pig ears on the side as an appetizer-but if you have heart problems or are suffering from bronchitis or you don't know that the lining of your esophagus can be worn down or if you aren't on the purple pill called nexium, ask your doctor before coming, there are rare but serious side effects (head trama, shock). Anyway, I cannot wait to see you guys and share in the joy that God provides.

So, our group put on play #2 for all the kids that help with the trash clean up program we support in the neighborhood. It was really great and I thank God for speaking to Annie Vee and Laura Oh about how we should share the Good News with the neighborhood. The message this time was the parable of Shepherd and the one lost sheep. I was the Shepherd, Annie was the lost sheep, Caleb A., Laura, and Amy were the other three sheep and Jennifer Springston was our narrator and our translator was Natalia. The message was that we are Christ's sheep and when we stray off in our walks of Christianity, even though we are one in millions, God is completely distraught and longs to bring us back to safe ground. We also played many games and one, blob tag, had to be stopped because about twenty kids were bleeding including our translator, Mario, and teammate Baker. After games we spent to rest of our time running around with kids on our shoulders and sharing God's love.

This week I realized just how powerful God is. It feels as if I have put God in a little box my whole life and through a sermon by James McDonald my box was cast away. Isaiah 40 speaks of God in a way that we should all view God. It speaks of a loving, tender God in verse 11, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those who have young." Also, another aspect of God is spoken of later in verse 12, "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?" What a powerful and awesome God that describes and yet, another aspect is part of God as described in verse 14, "Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?" Saying that God is knowledge. This God of Tenderheartedness, Awesomeness, and Wisdom gives a promise to his sheep at the end of the chapter that is very encouraging and definitely expands my box. Chapter 40: 29-31 promises, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." Wow, I will try never to forget this passage. All we have to do is hope in the Lord and not constrict him to a toaster box and we will be blessed with energy and wisdom/power that comes from the one who invented it!

Hey, I hope you are encouraged by that this week. So you know, we just found out recently that the rest of our time here until Christmas is going to be spent on the beautiful island of Ometepe! We are staying at an orphanage and there are many ministry opportunities waiting for us, and also a massive lake at our doorstep, I can't wait to go! I will come back with some tribal stories I am sure, probably involving a fight against monkeys or something. Men's Bible studies have still been happening Wednesdays and Fridays in the mornings and it continues to grow and draw lost people. Yesterday, Charles Kaye, our head missionary down here, raised his hand and said, now who here has been to jail-everyone raised their tattooed arms and us pale, Bible-loving gringos kinda slinked down in our chairs. It is awesome that God can bring such lost people to hear his truths and dramatically change lives. Oh jeeze, and we stopped by to see Andy and he was in a motorcycle accident and he is pretty cut up so he wasn't able to go to church, please pray for him. Also, when I return to Nicaragua in January, I am on my own to start ministries or choose them, wherever I feel God leads me. Right now I am feeling led to run a jail ministry but I am praying that I keep my ears open to his voice. Please pray that God will rock my world with a calling to where he wants me to serve him and that my heart will be open as well. That would be huge, and thanks for continuing to remember me in prayer, it makes a huge difference, more than we all will know I am sure. I can't wait to see what is next!

Jose Carter

Not about a REligion but a RElationship:

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys and gals and everyone in between, how was your Thanksgiving? Turkey, throwing the ole pigskin around and watching jacked up men rip eachothers heads off on tv (T.O's I hope) I hope! My first Thanksgiving in Nicaragua was a wild one--we ate at an extended table of over 20 people and there was one whole table dedicated soley to food, aaaahh I went so crazy, I attacked the food like it was the Russian Vs. Rocky and It was the final round. There was indeed blood, Our team leader tore her ankle to shreds on a rock and was left to stew in agony as she watched me dive for the food table. It was quite a scene too, do you guys know the nose game? Where you all touch your nose and the last person to do it has to do something?? Well we played the nose tooth head ear game where if you were the last person to do the action you had to run around our 30 ft table doing an animal impression the crowd chooses, pretty brutal eh? I had to do a dolphin, which i'm pretty sure if PETA was there they would have tried to save me it was so realistic, and others had to do a Chiwawa (I have no idea how to spell it because small dogs are freightening for obvious reasons--bad breath) and a Penguin? Not sure but many animals came out that day. So all in all, besides missing my fam--Broms, Dad, Josh, Lindsey, Sheped--back home, it was a successful Thanksgiving.

Now, I feel like I have a weight on my shoulders and the need to articulate many thoughts too-day so I am going to just dive right in. I am praying right now that God just give me the words to write today, words that will fall on open hearts. SO, we have been studying a pretty cool subject this week--SOlITudE. Emo, yes, I know and you know and Frankie knows, but I have decided on this trip that is a very important thing if you want to separate RELIGION from RELATIONSHIP.

I am not going to use "Christianity" or "Catholicism" or "Episcopalian" or anything but merely am going to substitute the word "relationship" in-alluding to our relationship with our Creator, God, Abbah, Jesus, Friend, Father, all equal descriptions. Ignore preconceived notions or experiences with worldly friends, relatives, Gf's, or spouses. This is a perfect relationship-or rather, was a perfect relationship between two real people and God! I used to picture the people in the Bible as merely people made up to show us exactly how to live our lives and how to follow a perfect set of rules perfectly. I am slowly understanding and seeing Adam and Eve as like Mel Gibson with a beard and princess Leah gathering all security and all confidence and joy from their perfect relationship with someone who has infinite love for his creation. You know what happened even without reading the Bible: They fell into temptation and sinned, eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I picture a large spotlight of God's glory from the clouds being snapped off. Click, Mel and Leah realize their imperfections, feel insecure because this constant beam of love and glory suddenly isn't felt; not that God stopped loving them or us, which is a beautiful thing, just their relationship was/is greatly effected. We feel this. Even now what are you doing to try and make yourself feel secure? Is it having your boyfriend say they love you or is it excelling at something?

I can honestly write to you right now and say before this trip I viewed my religion was following the lives of certain robotic people in the Bible and keeping God happy-all the while judging my life on feelings of guilt and what I could do that would make me feel good and keep me from feeling like I was destined for a land of fire and brimstone. But, little did I know, this didn't matter to my father and friend above; he would get his relationship. Like a trumpet in my ear I heard such a loving calling that I seriously made the decision to come to Nicaragua in about two seconds (and don't think that it was my doing, I give all the praise to God).

This week we have been talking about formulas that aren't, FEW, binary code or electrical engineering jargon but formulas we find that work in our life and that cause God to respond in a good way. I tried to explain a formula to my sis, Lindsey, and now realize that the Bible doesn't preach formulas so I shouldn't. WHAT!?!? The Bible is full of rules doe. Yep, true dat, but these are merely there to help us grow in our relationship with God. Dude, can you have a relationship with someone you don't know?---Neeoope, that is why the Bible was breathed by God into man; The Bible was written so that we can know Him and His ways. Once you do so, like Paul or John in the Bible, you realize that "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full," says Jesus in John 10:10. And that we are led by something called "The Holy Spirit" that convicts us when we hurt our Friend. Once you find out who God really is and feel the love and joy he cannot wait to instill in us, we wont want to sin. BUT, this is a formula, shoot. Well, all I know is that this morning I woke up to my leader, James O'Sheeeea, playing a very loud yet tribal beat onto a cup in which he had trapped a fly with. "Daaaa Gonnet I'm tired and feel kinda crappy," I thought as I droggled to the bathroom.

"Wait a minute, I just had an amazing experience with someone divine who loves me-He Loves Me!" I thought.

BAM! It feels so good to be loved, why would I want to screw it up? If I were to write a book of the Bible, I too would write of all the things I have done and continue to do that mess this relationship up because I have had just a droplet of God's love (imagine the feelings in heaven!).

So, hey, I tell you this: Ignore all the televangelists who crave money and those that HATE ANYBODY-women, gay people, alcoholics-because the bible says in John 13:34-35: "As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." WORK ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND FORGET FORMULAS! However the process for you to become close to God know-the Bible is there to show you who this Father is, so read up and chase after wherever you heart is led (Just make sure it's not led to Crack Cocaaaiiine).

Jeeze, so solitude, eh? This week we had a dayish of absolutely no talking and I realize how much I use talking to feel secure. Also, yesterday we spent a day of solitude on a mountain with a cross on top. It was truly an amazing experience and I have never felt so loved or closer to God than when I was completely alone in a comfortable tree with a giant volcano ahead of me. I tried and tried to shut off my mind to all the bustle in this world and read a bit of Psalms and Songs of Solomon which is loaded with poetry and imagery. Then I just prayed that God would "speak to me in this hour" and again, without planning it, God chose for me to write a poem. I really just depended on Him to speak to me, and what I wrote relates a lot to solitude and struggles to "turn off" the outside world. Read this poem slowly and take in what God was saying to me and to us.

Calming the traffic:

Sometimes the constant buzz of this world is sifted into tranquility,

Waves of air drift by and caress your faces and pull back into nothingness.

A stop and go light interrupting thoughts and actions is left in its wake.

"No, not this time," the prince of the control box, says in a sly voice.

Like a squirt gun injecting its venom into its environment,

casting an array of cold intentions onto its victim,

so are his deceptions crashing past your eardrums;

Yet, coming from within,

starting with that red beater thumping life

that gleams in warms streams

through your open veins and forming pure vibrations over the tongue,

Something some call light and others truth

reveals a droplet, much like a collection of dew on mornings bed--

Just a droplet of Glory and shhhhhh...

The breeze licks away the remaining noise,

much like a mother cleans her pup.

You sit in perhaps a tree that holds you to the shining sun-

and its soothing rays remind you of the embrace that eagerly awaits

as time goes by with each passing thought.

Your lips shy upwards because your ears are in tune with the whispers

that praise your attentiveness.

All the while the thumping beats an increasing

current of sweet, sweet nectar,

as precious as that to a humming bird.

And you feel the peace felt long ago,

even before the deceiving crowned itself on beauty.

And you wrap your arms around your supporter,

as you climb down and fly towards the world,

like a dragonfly,

Creating your own melody with your wings.

And you return to the tree only to realize

its arms spread wider and you cannot wait,

to climb into its glorious presence!

AMEN!