What God is doing...

I just got back last Friday from 2 weeks of youth camp and needless to say I was exhausted!! So I decided to take this week off and just chill around the house and recuperate. It has been nice for sure just to be able to sleep in a little and basically lay around and veg! While doing that, God laid it on my heart that I need to also recuperate spiritually this week. I have purposed to do this by really focusing on His Word and prayer. I started reading Ezekiel last night, because honestly, I never have read it all the way through. I was able to get through the first 4 chapters before calling it a night.

This is one of the parts that really jumped out at me:

And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel." So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: "Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. Ezekiel 3:1-4 (NIV)

This really confirmed to me that in order to recharge and be prepared for what God has called me to do, I have to eat His Word. Ezekiel was headed to speak to the people of Israel, and what he was going to say had to come from God, because the people were "hardened and obstinate" (vs 7) If I try to go and reach people within my own strength, I WILL FAIL!! I have to eat, digest, and benefit from the sweet Truth of God's Word. It's kinda like what happens when we eat foods that are good for us... we eat that food, digest it, and then benefit from the nutrients it provides us. I really want to take this week and focus on God's Word and benefit from the life change it will bring. Check out Ezekiel sometime and let me know how it has spoken to you.
I hope you have a great 4th of July weekend, and remember to take some time to thank God for allowing us to live in a free country!!

Much Love,
Bholda

Does this really work?

I don't know if you can tell what's going on in the picture, so let me explain. I was at an intersection yesterday and there were 4 men standing at the intersection holding signs. The signs read "Homosexuality is an abomination to God", "One day every knee shall bow and tongue confess", and other statements similar to these. Now let me explain something about these signs. I agree with the statements on the signs, however, what I'm really wondering about is if this is effective in reaching people. In reading the Word, I have never seen Jesus use this "technique" in bringing people to Himself. Jesus focused on building RELATIONSHIPS with people, not standing on the side of the road screaming or pointing out sin to others. It almost made me feel like these guys were doing this to earn some type of points with God for their "extra effort" standing in the heat wearing a tie holding "holy signs". I wish people would realize that there are much more effective ways to reach people for Christ. Sorry for the rant, but I just had to get it off my chest.

Bholda

Surge

I'm really to exhausted to post everything that happened right now, but my wife did a great job giving updates. Check her blog out at www.crystalholder.blogspot.com I'm off to Pigeon Forge Monday morning for middle school camp, so pray for us!!

Bholda

Break from the blogging world

Gettin' everything wrapped up for Surge '08 down in St. George Island Florida. There are 8 of us leaving early Saturday morning to get down to the island and prepare for the students who will be arriving Sunday night. I will try to blog at Surge if I get a chance, but I wouldn't count on it!! Pray for our safety, and I can't wait to blog about the AWESOME things God did while we were there!!

Much Love,
Bholda (soakin' up some rays!!)

Productivity

Productivity is a beautiful thing, and I like it ALOT!! Today was very productive in preparing for Surge '08. The productivity really kicked into high gear yesterday with our parent/student meeting and then our Surge leader meeting at 7 last night. I am so pumped about the leaders we have going on this year, and last night was confirmation we have the right volunteers going with us. Each one of them are sold out to Christ first, and then the calling God has placed on them to work with students. They are incredible and are so passionate about seeing God bring about change in our students. We spent time going over the schedule, explaining our challenges, and going through the small group material. We finished up by spending time praying for the week and our students, it was AWESOME!! Surge is crazy busy, but it is all worth it seeing students experience God and then bring it back home and live it out!!

************This just in, my dog just vomitted on my favorite pair of flip-flops as I am sitting here writing this********** I suppose this could be training for parenthood? If so, I'm gonna be gagging all the time!!!

Ok, back to productivity. I was able to meet with our chef for the week, Chef Bek. She and her husband Eric are awesome cooks and I can't wait to dig in next week! Oh yes, we are having low country boil one night!! YUMMY!!! Anyway, we went through our storage building and pulled out the stuff we are going to need to take to Florida with us, so that was a big relief to get that stuff together. The main food shopping day will be Friday at Sam's because the closest Wal-mart is 50 miles and Sam's is 70 miles from the island, so we gotta haul a good bit of the stuff with us. Tomorrow we will film some videos and start shopping for challenges and getting that stuff together to pack on Friday. It's going to be a great week and I can't wait to see what God does!!
Well, it's off to check on the flip-flops and try not to puke!!

RUNning my Race,
Bholda

The latest

Well, as I have already made clear in other posts, summer is wide open for us Student Pastors. This summer is going to be no different it appears. We are leaving for Surge next Saturday and the high schoolers will head down on Sunday. So the planning for Surge has been intense and productive. We will start packing stuff up this week and wrapping up the final details. I have a Surge parent/student meeting Sunday at 1:00, wedding at 3:00, and a Surge leader meeting at 7:00!! Tonight we have a graduation, and tomorrow there are a couple of graduation parties we've been invited to. All this is going on and we found out a couple of weekends ago that we have been approved as adoptive parents. Which simply means any day now the phone could ring and we could have a little boy coming our way!!! Talk about being on pins and needles!! We are so excited and anxious at the same time, it's great!! Please be praying for us because our world is about to be rocked in an awesome way. God is definitely reminding Crystal(www.crystalholder.blogspot.com)and me that we NEED to trust Him for everything, especially when things are out of our control. I will keep you updated on the progress of the adoption. Thanks for stopping by!!

RUNning My Race,
Bholda

Just hold on!!

Sorry for not posting lately, it's been crazy busy with Surge coming up in 10 days!!! I hope to post tomorrow about some stuff that's been going on. Please be patient with me.

Much Love,
Bholda