Summer Lesson #1

Greetings all! How is everyone? For my Ambrose friends, I hope everyone is transitioning well from school into summer jobs. My hope for everyone else is simply this; that you are truly happy with whatever it is you are doing right now. First of all, I am BLOWN away by the number of people that have joined the facebook group, 'My Life in Cambodia', it encourages me greatly to know that you wonderful people are joining me in this God-lead journey. I was thinking of what I wanted to do with this blog over the summer and I like the idea that I have come up with. I am going to focus some of my entries on what God is teaching me. The past few days I have really been sensing and learning a new appreciation for the communal nature of life and the Christian faith. Life is not meant to be lived alone. I had the great joy, honor, and blessing of living with 20 or so of the greatest guys ever in residence at Ambrose this past year. I can honestly say that each one of them blessed me and taught me something over the past eight months. I consider myself incredibly blessed to have been apart of a floor that truly understood community and lived that out. We laughed, prayed, cried, and worshiped together. Gentlemen of Bethel, know that I love you guys like brothers and am thankful to have met/developed great friendships with you all. I have heard and experienced countless people ask me about and show an amazing amount of love, support, and encouragement about Cambodia. I am overwhelmed by the love and support I have received, it has encouraged me and blessed my soul in such a beautiful way. The act of people supporting each other and truly living life together is powerful. I am sure you can all think of people in your life that each bring a special piece to it. I can think of people that I can just relax and have a great conversation with, people I can laugh with, people I can cry with, people that will tell me what I need to hear, people that don't say anything and just give an ear when I need it most. I honestly don't know what life would be like without these people. I can not imagine life without people to share it with.

As I say so-long, let me leave you with a verse of scripture that really got my attention this morning. Proverbs 30:7-8, "Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die; Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread." I think this is such a beautifal verse and prayer for life. May life be marked with the truth and beauty of God. In a world that seems so bleek at times; I know that I have a God that constantly pursues and loves me, I have a job that is enabling me to do what makes me truly happy, I have a roof over my head, and I have the most amazing people to share life with, encourage, and learn from.

I am a blessed man.

Love and blessings,
Brian