Day 2: "Going Surfing Every Day"

We had an early start this morning! Woke up around 8 a.m. for my first day of evangelism training! The project staff is using an awesome analogy of surfing to describe our walks with God, and also for evangelism. When surfing there are many factors that play into it, much the same as when sharing your faith. 

The analogy that stood out the most in my mind was the one where the ocean was described as the unknown. It is unpredictable and always changing. You never know what you will get when you go to surf. And some waves that one surfer fail to ride, another can ride it just as easily. But no matter what a surfer will always get back up after being knocked down by a wave and go try it again.

This relates to our faith. We are the surfers, and the ocean represents the waves or the challenges that the people we are outreaching to represent. We can not overthink it, just like we wouldn't overthink riding a wave! We must pursue someone even with the fear of getting knocked down, and even if we are knocked down, get up and try to catch another wave, and not be discouraged.

Our motto for the summer is:

                         "Going Surfing Every Day"

This means that we are going to surf the waves, or face different challenges every day in regards to our mission and those we are reaching too! So we must be prepared for something different every day. One day we may have an amazing witnessing oppurtunity or great conversation with someone, and another day the wave we are trying to ride may knock us down and shut us down. But through it all I must remember to praise God, for the good and the bad!

Another awesome analogy we used today to describe sharing our faith was dancing! I know crazy right? But trust me it worked! So the staff was all standing in front of us and announced a dance party? so they all get up and dance around and do crazy stuff and only a few of us stood up and started to dance. There were murmors all around the room of *where's the music* and *this is awkward* So after a minute or so the staff all stopped dancing and accused us of "not having any moves." So they decided to teach us some... and of course they are the most random awkward dance moves ever... so we restart the dance party and are supposed to be using the really awkward dance moves they just taught us.... all with no music. And you can hear still people saying *where's the music* Becuase honestly, how are you supposed to dance without music???  But then, after a few more minutes of no music, and using these awkward dance moves that we were taught, the staff finally turned on the music! So we just had this crazy, random, awkward dance party... and everyone was kinda like, what is the eternal signifigance of this crazy random awkward dance party... Sooo, after about 5 minutes of all of us acting crazy, the staff turned off the music and had us all sit back down; then went on to explain why we had just done that. 

The dance moves that we were taught by the staff, represented straight religion - following a strict set of rules and just doing what you are told. Music represents the Gospel and the relationship we have with our God. So this is a great analogy for sharing the gospel. Becuase when one typically dances, they dance to the music. They don't learn how to dance and then add the music. So you wouldn't go up to a non-believer and accuse them, and tell them they must live a certain way without first explaining to them God's love and the gospel as a whole. Once the person has an understanding of the Gospel and is living their life for God (aka listening to the music) they can then be instructed in how to live in a Godly manner (or the dance moves taught to us by staff). 

                "Religion without the Gospel is like dancing                                           
                                     without the music, it just doesnt work!"

I found this very helpful, because my first step doesn't need to be changing someones lifestyle, it needs to be sharing God's love with them, and teaching them about the Gospel, and after that they should want to learn the dance moves or how to live for God!

and then.... Scavenger Hunt!!!!

We went on a scavenger hunt tonight in Downtown Disney! This was a great way for us to get to know several of our fellow project goers better! The list was several items long. The pictures my group took are below!!

The captions are not exact wording of the clues because I cant remember them but here ya go!

Picture with the friends from 100 acre woods!

Go play in the fountain!

Take a picture with Cinderella!

(Glass Slipper, but not really!)

Our new College Program friend, Jessica!

Find the staff and guess there favorite music genre: Classic Rock

Build your own Mr. Potatoe Head

"Ride a hog" *notice...im being ran over* #typical

Again with the fountain #5yearsold :)

Take a picture with Captain Hooks most hated enemy

We also had a great conversation with the cast member in the photo! 

She told us we should get bonus points for having a fellow Christian in the pic!

Find Chad a "goofy" hat

Overall today was awesome! 

My Daily Quiet Time

Luke 1:37

"for with God all things are possible"

This portion of the passage hit me really hard this morning. In context it is discussing Elizabeth's pregnancy in her old age, and Mary becoming pregnant as a virgin. But I feel that this could also apply to all areas of life. What I was most moved by was that with God ALL things are possible. No matter how tough they seem, or how hard life gets, as long as I rely on God and use him as my number one strength I can do anything! Including overcoming several sins in my life that seem to be all consuming and I just can not shake. But the reality is, that I can! Because I have God, and if he can allow Elizabeth to become pregnant in her old age, and Mary to become pregnant as a virgin, he can help me to overcome and conquer my personal sins!


And finally, right before bed... We just had an awesome impromptu worship session in the parking lot, spending a couple of minutes worshiping our Lord and King!