Be Still

And know that I am God -Psalms 46:10. This verse described my weekend perfectly. I made it my goal to do as little as humanly possible. This past week here in Vegas has been AMAZING weather. 70’s and sunny. Of course that didn’t last too long, we’re back up to 90’s tomorrow. But that’s not the point; I’ll continue my story now. A few of us decided to sit in the grass at the park across the street from the base and just chill. I read, listened to my iPod, and people watched like it was my job. Before I knew it I was praising God for the sun, the cool breeze, the grass, the park, the little kids, the puppies running around, the homeless people taking naps, and pretty much everything I could think of. After a while, I lay down and just existed in contentment. I really couldn’t remember the last time I enjoyed doing that so much. Back home I didn’t lay down unless it was midnight and I knew I had to get sleep before work at 5am. Resting was a foreign concept, there was too much to do, too many people to have coffee with and not enough time in my day. How many of us fall into this cycle of day to day life? I know I do. And how many times did I end up flaking on someone because I overcommitted myself that day? Too many to count. And God was the one who I flaked on most of those days. Over packing our schedules doesn’t help our relationships; it hurts them. No one likes being flaked on. I don’t want to fall into that anymore. These passed 2 ½ months have definitely taught me that I’m not as special as I think; I don’t HAVE to do everything TODAY. The world will not end. God wants time with us so bad, He longs for it. Do we give Him that time? Or are we too busy making sure we see everyone else in town first? I know it will be a process to snap myself out of this habit, but I so want that time with God too.

Moving on..

Sitting in the park on Saturday led to a great conversation with a man named Mark. Mark came up to me and Abbey (at this time we were the only two left at the park) and just simply said in his Spanish accent, “Christians?” We looked at each other confused for a second and said, yes. He sat down and said “Can we talk about salvation?” What was happening? Divine appointments are so cool! Anyway, our conversation lasted over an hour. We told him what we are doing here in Vegas and where we will be headed in just a matter of weeks. He was very encouraging and then he went on to tell us how he came to find the Lord, why he moved to Las Vegas from Mexico City, how he overcame a gambling addiction, his kids and their lives, pretty much everything. He also told us how he feels that God seems to be calling him back to Mexico to preach when his last son graduates high school. He wants to wake up Mexican culture from their Catholic ways that are “full of rules and punishments and no love.” In Mexico a lot of the Catholic religion is just tradition, what they’ve always done. Many don’t actually have a relationship with Jesus. So this excited me. Mark is so very passionate about this; I can tell God is working on preparing him for something awesome. He and some guys play soccer at the park every Saturday. He wants to introduce us to his kids. So next Saturday we’re going to hang out with some new friends. :)