This week was started off right with a fundraiser for the gym, Urban Perform, connected with my church. The fundraiser was a casino night with a silent auction. It was pretty awesome. They auctioned off some sweet items like a signed Atlanta Falcons jersey, a signed Georgia Bulldogs football, tickets to a play, etc. It was a great night of fun. Our team worked for a couple hours then had a chance to enjoy some of the events happening. Since it was a casino night everyone was given 20,000 in casino money (basically monopoly money). There was Blackjack, craps, roulette, and Texas Hold 'Em. I only played blackjack and ended the night with $9600. It was a ton of fun, and a great opportunity for the gym to raise money. We haven't been given a final figure on how much the night raised, but I do know that it was well supported.
Now onto a completely different topic...
When I use to think about rest, I thought it meant lying down and basically being lazy, but God is opening my eyes to what rest truly is and where I'm supposed to find it. It is hard to think that even in our busyness we can be at rest with an overwhelming peace that is an extension of that rest. I'm finding rest at work, in the crazy schedule we maintain, and of course on Sabbaths. I would have never thought that I would say that I find rest and peace at work, but I am rejuvenated everyday by going in to the Cafe. I think God for showing me this new peace, and another way that he shows his love and grace in my life. When it comes to the busy schedule I wouldn't say that the rest actually comes from the busyness of it, but the fact that when I do get to slow down it allows me to see God more clearly.
My Sabbath falls on Friday, and I have been asked by a few people why we call it a Sabbath. It is called Sabbath because it is a day that I have to find rest in our marvelous creator. Most of my Sabbaths I spend time in the beautiful nature God has given us. Sabbath gives me a chance to truly find rest in Christ and prepare myself for the beginning of a new week. My challenge to you is to find a new rest in Christ this week. That may look different for everyone. It could look like an hour of silence and study, or prayer and meditation. It could be spending time with loved ones just being family.
I want to thank you for reading my blog. My prayer for you this week is that Christ shows you what it means to find rest and peace in him, and that you see God's love in miraculous ways this week. Amen.
May grace and peace come upon you.
In Christ love
Adam
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
The festivals of covenants
This week marked the end of our electronic fast. We celebrated this with a commissioning ceremony. All the Atlanta team and alum interns wrote a team covenant. The whole ceremony was a beautiful and spiritually uplifting time. I have never been part of writing a covenant, it is hard to explain how amazing it is to share our team aspirations on paper and through words. All the teams shared their covenants aloud with the other teams during this time you could just feel the spirit of God moving. We were also given the opportunity to take part in communion together, and it was so uplifting. Just bringing back to my mind that Jesus died and shed his blood for me! The best part is the story doesn't stop their, but he rose again from the grave defeating death! O' how great is our God! I am very thankful for the family that I was able to covenant with, and the beautiful ideals that we have committed ourselves to following.
We were also able to take part in a community parade and block party this week called the festival of lights. After walking with the kids in the S.A.Y Yes! program during the parade, which was a ton of fun. I was able to enjoy spending some time with them while they got to eat free popcorn, cotton candy, and sno cones! The kids also got to enjoy a moon bounce. There was great entertainment, mostly talent from the community! It was really encouraging to see the community come together and celebrate all the beautiful things going on within English Ave. I'm thank God everyday for bringing me to Atlanta and specifically English Ave.
Thanks for your continual support and prayers. May grace and peace fall upon you!
In Christ,
Adam
We were also able to take part in a community parade and block party this week called the festival of lights. After walking with the kids in the S.A.Y Yes! program during the parade, which was a ton of fun. I was able to enjoy spending some time with them while they got to eat free popcorn, cotton candy, and sno cones! The kids also got to enjoy a moon bounce. There was great entertainment, mostly talent from the community! It was really encouraging to see the community come together and celebrate all the beautiful things going on within English Ave. I'm thank God everyday for bringing me to Atlanta and specifically English Ave.
Thanks for your continual support and prayers. May grace and peace fall upon you!
In Christ,
Adam
Friday, October 12, 2012
Solitude or Prison?
. I have viewed silence and solitude as a kind of prison up until this year. I always found sitting alone in silence hard and pointless. I never cared to be alone or to be silent for that matter. I have always tried to fill silence with words, but I have been confronting my fear of loneliness during morning quiet times and on solitude retreat. What I am learning is that silence and loneliness is beautiful. It is nearly impossible to hear God's quiet whisper when you don't sit and listen. Many times we get caught in the whirlwind of life, and we don't mind because it keeps us from feeling alone. Well at least that was true for me. Over the past month and a half God has been showing me his beauty in silence and solitude. This was a lesson I never expected to learn this year. I thought living in a house with six other people there will never be a quiet moment. Needless to say I was wrong, and I can honestly say that I am glad that I was.
I have been practicing different methods of reading scripture in the morning. In a book that we are reading for Wednesday night bible study suggested as a discipline a type of scripture reading called lectio divina. This is a very deliberate way to read scripture. It is a slow and reflective process. (If you would like to know more about it email me.) I chose to focus on Romans 1:16-17. It was a beautiful time to hear God speak to me from his word. I was able to slowly and methodically read and reflect on the message. Listening to what God was telling me in this particular scripture. I heard words like unashamed, righteousness, and gospel. I then took the time to reflect on those words.
Being unashamed allows me to freely trust in God's will, and to freely follow him into situations that may be difficult. When I read about righteousness it reminds me that we are clothed in his righteousness, and that we can delight in that fact. I was also reminded what the gospel was, the good news of grace that was freely given by our loving father by the death of his son Jesus. I also realized what it means to combine these three things. To wear God's righteousness while being unashamed of the gospel, means to trust in what he is having you to do know that there is no reason to worry about what others think about you, and to gladly portray Jesus in our everyday life.
Thursday and Friday, we spent on a solitude retreat. I believe in total we spent between 6 and 7 hours alone with God just reflecting on readings, in prayer or just being. I read Psalm 104 in my first 45 minutes of quiet time and spent the whole time trying to listen to God in the scripture and in nature. In the Psalm there is a part that speaks about the wind. During that part the wind began to blow fairly strongly. This reminded me of how active our God is. We do not serve a God that sits in the heavens and looks down upon us. We worship a God that kisses our cheeks in the wind, that speaks to us in the silence, that wants a intimate relationship with him, and that wants us to realize that he loves us even though we are broken. These are some of the things I learned during my time of solitude.
I said above that I use to think that silence and time alone felt like a prison. It felt like a prison because I didn't know how to let things go and give them to God. I was afraid to be quiet and alone. I didn't realize that being silent and alone would allow me to meet with God. When we allow ourselves to be still and reflect on God, we allow God to meet us in our brokenness and that is where healing begins. I thank God that he does not expect me to be perfect, that he loves me in my imperfection. I thank God for the silence and the whisper of his voice that gently whispers, "Adam, I love you. I have been trying to tell you this, but you have surrounded yourself with noise. Can you hear me, my son? I love you!"
Grace and peace,
Adam Q.
I have been practicing different methods of reading scripture in the morning. In a book that we are reading for Wednesday night bible study suggested as a discipline a type of scripture reading called lectio divina. This is a very deliberate way to read scripture. It is a slow and reflective process. (If you would like to know more about it email me.) I chose to focus on Romans 1:16-17. It was a beautiful time to hear God speak to me from his word. I was able to slowly and methodically read and reflect on the message. Listening to what God was telling me in this particular scripture. I heard words like unashamed, righteousness, and gospel. I then took the time to reflect on those words.
Being unashamed allows me to freely trust in God's will, and to freely follow him into situations that may be difficult. When I read about righteousness it reminds me that we are clothed in his righteousness, and that we can delight in that fact. I was also reminded what the gospel was, the good news of grace that was freely given by our loving father by the death of his son Jesus. I also realized what it means to combine these three things. To wear God's righteousness while being unashamed of the gospel, means to trust in what he is having you to do know that there is no reason to worry about what others think about you, and to gladly portray Jesus in our everyday life.
Thursday and Friday, we spent on a solitude retreat. I believe in total we spent between 6 and 7 hours alone with God just reflecting on readings, in prayer or just being. I read Psalm 104 in my first 45 minutes of quiet time and spent the whole time trying to listen to God in the scripture and in nature. In the Psalm there is a part that speaks about the wind. During that part the wind began to blow fairly strongly. This reminded me of how active our God is. We do not serve a God that sits in the heavens and looks down upon us. We worship a God that kisses our cheeks in the wind, that speaks to us in the silence, that wants a intimate relationship with him, and that wants us to realize that he loves us even though we are broken. These are some of the things I learned during my time of solitude.
I said above that I use to think that silence and time alone felt like a prison. It felt like a prison because I didn't know how to let things go and give them to God. I was afraid to be quiet and alone. I didn't realize that being silent and alone would allow me to meet with God. When we allow ourselves to be still and reflect on God, we allow God to meet us in our brokenness and that is where healing begins. I thank God that he does not expect me to be perfect, that he loves me in my imperfection. I thank God for the silence and the whisper of his voice that gently whispers, "Adam, I love you. I have been trying to tell you this, but you have surrounded yourself with noise. Can you hear me, my son? I love you!"
Grace and peace,
Adam Q.
Friday, October 5, 2012
The Documentary of Spades
So last week I talked a little bit about wanting to sit on someones porch for community day. Well God is faithful and he answered my prayer! It wasn't necessarily the way I was expecting him to answer, but that is typical. Tony and I were walking around the neighborhood for the first hour and half just talking with random people; which, I love to do. Then we headed home for a drink of water, and we had decided to split up and go our separate ways for the rest of the day. As I walked around the neighborhood, I wasn't seeing very many people that is when I saw Tony and SooJi playing dominoes with some of the neighbors. So I headed over to watch the game. Not only was there the game of dominoes being played but there was another group playing spades. After watching the spades game for a few minutes they invited me in the play the next game! I was only going to play a few, but we ended up playing for a little over two hours! It was a lot of fun, and I got to know some of my neighbors a little better! I plan on going back over there this Saturday as well, and hanging out with them for a little while. Playing spades with my neighbors was a great way to end my week!
This week I had the opportunity to watch two documentaries. The first was named "The Line". It was about the poverty line. The film followed four people that had fallen below the poverty line. In case you are unaware what the poverty line is: when a family of four is living off of a little more than 23,000 a year! The first guy it followed went from making over six figures a year to living in poverty because he could not find a job. He was trying to raise two sons. The second lady it followed was out of work because of an injury that she had sustained when she fell in a subway. She was living off of disability that came to about $1500 a month and she was trying to raise three kids. The third guy it followed had lost his father at a young age causing him to drop out of school, and start working at a race track. He quit the race track and moved from New York to North Carolina where he spent some time trying to find a job. During the time he was looking he was living in a homeless shelter. He eventually found a job at a kitchen as a bus boy. With his first check he moved out of the homeless shelter into an apartment. The joy he had in the fact that he had a job and his own place was amazing and encouraging! The fourth guy was a Louisiana shrimper. His lively hood was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Both of these causing natural changes which made shrimp hard to catch and oysters uneatable! Later Hurricane Ivan completely destroyed the place that he docked his boat. The reason I share this is because it really touched me, and I wish everyone could have a chance to watch this film. I agree with one thing said in the film: Everyone below the line is always striving and looking to what is above the line, but those that are above the line don't ever want to fall below, and they don't even look below it because they don't want to see what is under it. (that is a paraphrase.)
The second documentary I watched this week was called "The Interrupters". The documentary was about a group called Cease Fire. They worked in the Chicago area, and they try to interrupt violence. I would highly suggest seeing this if you are over the age of eighteen. ( it is rated r, there is strong language.) It will really open your eyes to the damage of violence. There were parts that I wanted to cry looking at the memorials of kids, and then parts that made you smile. Watching someone go from a lifestyle saturated in violence to trying to be a peace maker and having a job was amazing. I learned a lot from both of these films and would encourage everyone to watch them!
Thank you for keeping my team and myself in your prayers! Much love! May grace and peace fall on you!
In Christ,
Adam
This week I had the opportunity to watch two documentaries. The first was named "The Line". It was about the poverty line. The film followed four people that had fallen below the poverty line. In case you are unaware what the poverty line is: when a family of four is living off of a little more than 23,000 a year! The first guy it followed went from making over six figures a year to living in poverty because he could not find a job. He was trying to raise two sons. The second lady it followed was out of work because of an injury that she had sustained when she fell in a subway. She was living off of disability that came to about $1500 a month and she was trying to raise three kids. The third guy it followed had lost his father at a young age causing him to drop out of school, and start working at a race track. He quit the race track and moved from New York to North Carolina where he spent some time trying to find a job. During the time he was looking he was living in a homeless shelter. He eventually found a job at a kitchen as a bus boy. With his first check he moved out of the homeless shelter into an apartment. The joy he had in the fact that he had a job and his own place was amazing and encouraging! The fourth guy was a Louisiana shrimper. His lively hood was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill. Both of these causing natural changes which made shrimp hard to catch and oysters uneatable! Later Hurricane Ivan completely destroyed the place that he docked his boat. The reason I share this is because it really touched me, and I wish everyone could have a chance to watch this film. I agree with one thing said in the film: Everyone below the line is always striving and looking to what is above the line, but those that are above the line don't ever want to fall below, and they don't even look below it because they don't want to see what is under it. (that is a paraphrase.)
The second documentary I watched this week was called "The Interrupters". The documentary was about a group called Cease Fire. They worked in the Chicago area, and they try to interrupt violence. I would highly suggest seeing this if you are over the age of eighteen. ( it is rated r, there is strong language.) It will really open your eyes to the damage of violence. There were parts that I wanted to cry looking at the memorials of kids, and then parts that made you smile. Watching someone go from a lifestyle saturated in violence to trying to be a peace maker and having a job was amazing. I learned a lot from both of these films and would encourage everyone to watch them!
Thank you for keeping my team and myself in your prayers! Much love! May grace and peace fall on you!
In Christ,
Adam
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