Daniel son

Well praise the G.O.D...The devotional went well today and the gospel was shared...Keep praying for the boys and for the ones who have not accepted Christ as their Lord.  Ya know, I thought about this today on our ride back to the house.  Before this trip I prayed that God would use me to share the gospel to at least one person.  Today I was able to share it with 7 boys.  Some have heard it and accepted, others have not, but how cool is that?  Just God coming up clutch again, He's kinda a big deal.

Here's a brief overview of what I shared with the boys today.  Graig gave me advice to share about something that you're learning in your own life, and it just so happened that I have been reading through the book of Daniel.

God using me and doing work during the devotional.

We read Daniel chapter 1.  The jist of it is so: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon overthrew Jerusalem.  He then ordered his Chief official to round up all the intelligent, good looking, basically the studs of Isreal to come become servants of the King and learn about Babylonian culture, literature and interpret dreams and visions.  Well Daniel and his friends were selected.  What impacted me when I read this was that the King ordered for all the young studs (Daniel and the crew) to eat food and wine prepared by Babylonians.  This food however was not the food God commanded his people to eat.  Basically Daniel "resolved" (we'll come back to that word later) to not defile himself and told the chief official to let him and his compadres eat vegetables while the others ate the food and wine. After 10 days he challenged the chief official to see which group of people looked more healthy.  Well, after 10 days Daniel and his boys were way healthier than the Babylonians.  After this God blessed Daniel and his friends with understanding and wisdom and they ended up becoming big shots.

What I tried to get across to the boys was the fact that we all have a choice to obey God's commands.  Everyday we can make that choice.  I talked about how Daniel resolved- he firmly decided to obey God no matter what the circumstances were or what environment he was in (these kids face a crappy environment everyday) and I asked them what happened?  God blessed Daniel and his friends.  I told them what resolve does not look like by sharing a story from my life.  I had decided not to ever become drunk (Ephesians 5:17-19 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the spirit.  Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord) which is a command as you can see.  Well I was around friends that were drinking one time and I chose not to obey God's law and ended up making some poor choices.

After sharing with them what resolve for the Lord does not look like, I asked them if they obeyed all God's commands, or if they thought Daniel obeyed them all the time.  I had them read Daniel 9: 9-10 which states, "The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets".  We talked about God's characteristics, how he is loving and forgiving even though we aren't perfect.  And I told them how cool is it that we don't have to be perfect (seriously think about that- freaking sweet).  I asked them why God would still love us when we disobey.  Someone said because of Jesus Christ (which was awesome) and then I shared with them again the Gospel, the hope of the world and how Jesus took away our sins so we could live free and all He asks is for us to believe in Him and his truth.  Hey, it's changed my life : ) (we also looked at Romans 3:22- check it out if you'd like)

That last thing I did was I gave them an example of what resolve DOES look like.  And I told them I'm looking at it right now.  I told them that they choose everyday to come to school when their environment makes it beyond difficult.  I told them that they have inspired and taught me so much and encouraged them to keep seeking the Lord, to continue to learn and grow not only in their education but in their faith.   To make a firm, secure choice to follow God's commands.  Don't we all have to make that choice daily? 

Twas pretty cool.  I felt very humbled, praise DA Lord. 

Boys playing a game

The rest of the day consisted again of playing games and futbol.  It was a ton of fun and although my mom won't like to read this, I forgot to put sunscreen on and my faced is a tad bit burned.  The kids loved it and we are growing even more closer to them, which is a blessing.  Gosh I love those kids, I wish you could all meet them. Check out the video of us dancing, haha- so fan-freaking-tastic- I taught them these moves- seriously, I did.

Alas, I am done writing.  I hope things are going swell in all your lives.  God bless!

-cam