From Wardrobes to Padlocks and Everything in between...
For clarification, this is Jeremy Burkett posting under Church's name.
For those of us who are not as blog literate as others I add my long-absent thoughts to this page. When asked to post some things that I learned on this tour I sat down and thought. (Thinking....a good place to obtain some thoughts...;-) ) What did I see God doing throughout the summer? What did I see God doing in my own life? What did I feel God revealed to me as his truth? I hope to address these questions in the remainder of this post.
What was God doing over the course of the summer? I truly believe he was changing lives. I saw first-hand and heard stories of lives that were touched, invigorated, renewed, and given over for the first time to our Lord. The message of this production is inherently powerful because it is true. It is God-breathed. The script of this show is taken almost verbatim from the gospel of Matthew. The word of God is so powerful that even if it was presented poorly (which I DO NOT think we did.) it would still have the power to change lives.
What was God doing in my own life? God was most definitely teaching me endurance and patience. These two things often appear together but must never be confused as meaning the same thing. Endurance can only be defined here as the strength to continue day in and day out with a production that demands so much energy and so much focus. It is no secret that one could certainly find themselves totally exhausted on a tour of this intensity. The constant packing and unpacking, performing and traveling demand an amazing amount of physical endurance. God showed me that there was a reason in being perpetually tired, a purpose for the seemingly never ending toil.
Patience, on the other hand, is quite different. In the midst of the work, there needs to be a focus, a dedication to the task at hand. When things are running smoothly, patience gets placed in the background because it is not needed. Once there happens to be a hiccup in the general running of things, our patience is tested, stretched. Patience allows us to deal with changes to our plans. It is a fruit of the spirit because we tend to forget that our plans are not always God's plans and a follower of Christ must possess this attribute in order to more easily recapture what God wants to do with us.
What did God reveal to me as truth? I have thought quite a bit about how God was going to use my work this summer. What if I messed up or did not do something I was supposed to? What would happen if something was done that was totally contrary to God's plan for this trip? I feel the answer can be explained through some of what C. S. Lewis wrote in The Last Battle. As Aslan speaks to the young Calormene prince after Aslan's followers have at last reached Aslan's country, he finds the prince confused. The price seems unable to understand how he was able to enter this wonderful land when his entire life was spent doing his work for Tash (the evil "god" of the series, possessing the likeness and character of Satan). The prince tells Aslan that he had never done any good work in the name of Aslan but dedicated everything to Tash. Alsan explains that all of his life's good deeds were, in fact, not done for Tash. Being, in his very essence, evil, Tash can not comprehend or accept a good deed because it is totally foreign to him. All of the prince's deeds were done unto Aslan. On the other hand, followers of Aslan who did evil under his name were doing it unto Tash for Aslan, being good and pure, cannot except it. It is encouraging to realize that evil, done in the name of Christian fellowship, cannot defile God because it is foreign to him. God can only be glorified by the good that we do. We must not be worried that somehow our failures can diminish the name of God, we can only ask forgiveness for our sin and continue to work with endurance and patience on the tasks that God sets out for us.
-Jeremy Burkett
For those of us who are not as blog literate as others I add my long-absent thoughts to this page. When asked to post some things that I learned on this tour I sat down and thought. (Thinking....a good place to obtain some thoughts...;-) ) What did I see God doing throughout the summer? What did I see God doing in my own life? What did I feel God revealed to me as his truth? I hope to address these questions in the remainder of this post.
What was God doing over the course of the summer? I truly believe he was changing lives. I saw first-hand and heard stories of lives that were touched, invigorated, renewed, and given over for the first time to our Lord. The message of this production is inherently powerful because it is true. It is God-breathed. The script of this show is taken almost verbatim from the gospel of Matthew. The word of God is so powerful that even if it was presented poorly (which I DO NOT think we did.) it would still have the power to change lives.
What was God doing in my own life? God was most definitely teaching me endurance and patience. These two things often appear together but must never be confused as meaning the same thing. Endurance can only be defined here as the strength to continue day in and day out with a production that demands so much energy and so much focus. It is no secret that one could certainly find themselves totally exhausted on a tour of this intensity. The constant packing and unpacking, performing and traveling demand an amazing amount of physical endurance. God showed me that there was a reason in being perpetually tired, a purpose for the seemingly never ending toil.
Patience, on the other hand, is quite different. In the midst of the work, there needs to be a focus, a dedication to the task at hand. When things are running smoothly, patience gets placed in the background because it is not needed. Once there happens to be a hiccup in the general running of things, our patience is tested, stretched. Patience allows us to deal with changes to our plans. It is a fruit of the spirit because we tend to forget that our plans are not always God's plans and a follower of Christ must possess this attribute in order to more easily recapture what God wants to do with us.
What did God reveal to me as truth? I have thought quite a bit about how God was going to use my work this summer. What if I messed up or did not do something I was supposed to? What would happen if something was done that was totally contrary to God's plan for this trip? I feel the answer can be explained through some of what C. S. Lewis wrote in The Last Battle. As Aslan speaks to the young Calormene prince after Aslan's followers have at last reached Aslan's country, he finds the prince confused. The price seems unable to understand how he was able to enter this wonderful land when his entire life was spent doing his work for Tash (the evil "god" of the series, possessing the likeness and character of Satan). The prince tells Aslan that he had never done any good work in the name of Aslan but dedicated everything to Tash. Alsan explains that all of his life's good deeds were, in fact, not done for Tash. Being, in his very essence, evil, Tash can not comprehend or accept a good deed because it is totally foreign to him. All of the prince's deeds were done unto Aslan. On the other hand, followers of Aslan who did evil under his name were doing it unto Tash for Aslan, being good and pure, cannot except it. It is encouraging to realize that evil, done in the name of Christian fellowship, cannot defile God because it is foreign to him. God can only be glorified by the good that we do. We must not be worried that somehow our failures can diminish the name of God, we can only ask forgiveness for our sin and continue to work with endurance and patience on the tasks that God sets out for us.
-Jeremy Burkett
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