4 December 2013 at 08:36 PM
Week of Boasting: II Corinthians 12
Day 7:
As I look at all the boastable qualities of these men and of so many others [II Cor 12:1-5], it would be so easy to try and compare their godly characteristics and achievements to the thorns I have in my own flesh, the inadequacies that God has allowed in my life to keep my humble[II Cor 12:7]. I ask, like Paul, "Lord, take this thorn away from me," [II Cor 12:8] or even jealously boast in myself or even try to tear my brothers down to make myself feel more adequate to serve along-side them. Or I complain, "Lord, why do I not have all the boastable qualities or accomplishments they have?" But then He answers me, "Because My grace is sufficient for you [II Cor 12:9]. Why are you in want of more?[Ps 23:1]" And then my jealousy is silenced, because I have no argument against such a truth.
His grace is more than sufficient for me. For it is by His grace alone that I am saved! When I was doomed to die for my sin, His grace meant that Jesus Christ came to take all my sinful deeds upon himself and die in my place! What could I possibly boast in light of that? It is not by my own works or accomplishments that I am saved, so that I cannot boast [Eph 2:8-9].
So today, on my last day of this week of boasting, I will boast in Jesus Christ. In His death and His resurrection! In His love for me that He would die for me.
My boasting is for them.
My boasting is for Him.
His grace is sufficient for me.
Day 6: Tim Edminster-
Let me boast today in my discipler, Dr. Timothy Edminster, who literally saves lives. He's a super smart pharmacist who daily deals with all kinds of patients at Shands Hospital. He loves to spend valuable one-on-one time with people and is also a great listener. He is also one of those couple of guys that I feel comfortable telling everything to. He is never judgmental. In fact, when my advice to myself might be somewhere along the lines of, "stop whining and get over it," Tim is always patient with me and has a true understanding of the difference between logical advice and emotional support. He is always ready and willing to give both. He has one of the busiest schedules I have seen, and yet he still finds a way, after a long and stressful day at work, to coordinate Sunday Service, go to PIT with Devon and Michael, and disciple John Cassel and me, even if that means losing sleep. He is very creative in everything he does and loves to jump in to serve in any way he can. He is definitely a huge blessing to have around and I know God's got a lot of great things planned for him!
Day 5: Devon Lundine-
Devon (known in my phone as "Devon the Listener") doesn't think of himself as a great communicator, but I have a much different perspective. Devon is by far one of the best listeners I know, which is much more than half of what communication is! He'll stay up late at night just to listen to me talk about all my issues and give me wisdom and encouragement when I have none. In fact, he is one of a couple people I feel most comfortable sharing everything with. His amazing ability to listen brings with it an intuition that has saved me on multiple occasions. He is the first to notice when I'm not feeling well or to jump to my rescue when nobody else knows that anything is wrong. He is also super generous. He has been loaning me his car to get to work for a year and a half and it has been such a huge blessing to me. He is a great homegroup leader and disciple group leader and, like I said about Michael yesterday, is also a part of PIT (Pastors in Training). Also as I said yesterday, Devon was personally asked by Herschel Martindale to take a trip to the Caribbean to scope out the mission field for Tom Short. He is a mean trombonist and just helped bring Buchholz High School's marching band to win a huge competition. His girlfriend is an amazing percussionist... like the Yo Yo Ma of percussion instruments. I can't even start to explain how much I love this guy or how much I know God is going to work through him.
Day 4: Michael Ashton-
Seriously? What is there to not boast about with my roommate, Michael Ashton? So much so, that I don't even have a permanent name for him in my phone because he is constantly doing things that make it difficult to choose which great quality to name him after. He is seriously really good at everything. His fingers can play amazing sounds on the guitar that shouldn't even be humanly possible. I remember the first time I heard him sing, I was so excited to be living with somebody I could sing with again (which hadn't happened since I lived with my sister). Nia and I spent almost a whole semester trying to convince him to sing on a team (though he didn't finally agree until Andrew Gordon mentioned in passing, "Hey, you should sing on the team"). Now he very strongly leads one of the music teams at our church, with so much enthusiasm, he makes Richard Simmons look like Ben Stein. He has been an excellent homegroup leader and 12th Terrace leader and disciple group leader. Even his disciples are excellent leaders in the church. He is a wonderful evangelist. I feel like every time I talk to him, he is saying something along the lines of, "Oh yeah. I went to class today, shared the Gospel and then winked and then the whole class gave their lives to Christ." He has gone on multiple mission trips to the Dominican Republic and picked up Spanish like the Hulk would pick up a feather. He is a part of PIT (Pastors In Training), a group of influential men in our church that meet every two weeks and he even occasionally teaches at Sunday Service. He is the go-to guy for everything for the pastors. In fact, he was personally asked recently by Herschel Martindale himself (the guy who basically invented Great Commission Ministries, our world-wide movement of churches), to take a three day trip to three countries in the Caribbean with my other roommate, Devon, to scope out the place and prepare for Tom Short to go on mission there. And all this, while winning the heart of one pretty young lady, this recent October. I can't even touch the surface of this guy's boast-able achievements.
Day 3: Samuel Mirtil-
If you know my roommate Sam Mirtil (or "Sam the Joyful" as he is in my phone), you probably know that he has a permanent smile tattooed onto his face. For those who don't know him, he doesn't literally have a tattoo on his face, I really just mean he is always smiling. Sam is always laughing and smiling through every possible situation. He once told me, "I got evicted from my apartment," with a huge smile on his face. He is also really patient. You could bring a party with noise makers and elephants in his room while he's trying to sleep, and he would just smile at you and not complain. He plays a mean saxophone. He played on our music team for a semester playing beautiful saxophone duets with Heather. Also, he used to be in a gang in elementary school, so if he were a less patient man, my roommate could probably beat up your roommate.
Day 2: Jacob Lehman-
Let me boast for a minute about my roommate, Jacob Lehman (or as he is listed in my phone "Jacob the Giving"). This guy is such a lover of spending quality time with people. He is great at using every possible opportunity, be it taking a trip to the McDonalds or Kangaroo, or tending our garden with me, or staying back a couple more minutes so he can walk to class with you. Of course, one of my favorite qualities of his, is his giving nature. He is so selfless with his time and his energy. He is always the one who gives up his time to go grocery shopping for the rest of us. One time, he spent days working diligently on fixing our dryer, dissecting it and replacing complicated pieces. He is such a handyman and gentleman. He is always fixing things at the girls' house next door, from their lawn mower, to their dishwasher, washer and dryer, microwave, water heater, hole in their roof, mailbox, Heather's dresser drawer, and I am sure, much more. He set an arsenal of rat traps for the girls and took the lead on taking our cat, Killer, to the vet when he had his staff infection. He's an excellent leader in his homegroup and on 12th Terrace and has been chosen to lead morning prayer for our community here in the Spring. I'm very excited to see what God's going to be doing through my roommate!
Day 1: Michael Rodeman-
Allow me to boast in my roommate, Michael Rodeman (or as he is listed in my phone "Rodeman the Apologist"). From the moment he was saved, I noticed two characteristics that he received upon salvation. The first is his humor. I can't really say that I am certain that humor is a spiritual gift, but if it was, he got it. From the random screeching pterodactyl imitations he makes to the funny phrases that come out of his mouth, his absurdity cannot be beat. The second is his love for apologetics. I remember the first time I shared the Gospel alongside Mr. Rodeman, we spoke to a guy who didn't believe in God and when I was about to give up, because I had nothing to more I could say, Rodeman went off on a very knowledgeable apologetic defense, spouting off facts I couldn't even dream of storing in my head (and this only maybe a week after he himself was saved!). He is also took it upon himself to try to organize what he called the Veritas Forum, where famous Christians and non-Christians would get together at UF and sometimes hold a debate. He also changed his major to Soil and Water Science because he wanted to dig wells in third world countries and reach the nations through that. I have no doubt that God has great plans for my roommate, Michael Rodeman and I love to boast in my brother!
Day 7:
As I look at all the boastable qualities of these men and of so many others [II Cor 12:1-5], it would be so easy to try and compare their godly characteristics and achievements to the thorns I have in my own flesh, the inadequacies that God has allowed in my life to keep my humble[II Cor 12:7]. I ask, like Paul, "Lord, take this thorn away from me," [II Cor 12:8] or even jealously boast in myself or even try to tear my brothers down to make myself feel more adequate to serve along-side them. Or I complain, "Lord, why do I not have all the boastable qualities or accomplishments they have?" But then He answers me, "Because My grace is sufficient for you [II Cor 12:9]. Why are you in want of more?[Ps 23:1]" And then my jealousy is silenced, because I have no argument against such a truth.
His grace is more than sufficient for me. For it is by His grace alone that I am saved! When I was doomed to die for my sin, His grace meant that Jesus Christ came to take all my sinful deeds upon himself and die in my place! What could I possibly boast in light of that? It is not by my own works or accomplishments that I am saved, so that I cannot boast [Eph 2:8-9].
So today, on my last day of this week of boasting, I will boast in Jesus Christ. In His death and His resurrection! In His love for me that He would die for me.
My boasting is for them.
My boasting is for Him.
His grace is sufficient for me.
Day 6: Tim Edminster-
Let me boast today in my discipler, Dr. Timothy Edminster, who literally saves lives. He's a super smart pharmacist who daily deals with all kinds of patients at Shands Hospital. He loves to spend valuable one-on-one time with people and is also a great listener. He is also one of those couple of guys that I feel comfortable telling everything to. He is never judgmental. In fact, when my advice to myself might be somewhere along the lines of, "stop whining and get over it," Tim is always patient with me and has a true understanding of the difference between logical advice and emotional support. He is always ready and willing to give both. He has one of the busiest schedules I have seen, and yet he still finds a way, after a long and stressful day at work, to coordinate Sunday Service, go to PIT with Devon and Michael, and disciple John Cassel and me, even if that means losing sleep. He is very creative in everything he does and loves to jump in to serve in any way he can. He is definitely a huge blessing to have around and I know God's got a lot of great things planned for him!
Day 5: Devon Lundine-
Devon (known in my phone as "Devon the Listener") doesn't think of himself as a great communicator, but I have a much different perspective. Devon is by far one of the best listeners I know, which is much more than half of what communication is! He'll stay up late at night just to listen to me talk about all my issues and give me wisdom and encouragement when I have none. In fact, he is one of a couple people I feel most comfortable sharing everything with. His amazing ability to listen brings with it an intuition that has saved me on multiple occasions. He is the first to notice when I'm not feeling well or to jump to my rescue when nobody else knows that anything is wrong. He is also super generous. He has been loaning me his car to get to work for a year and a half and it has been such a huge blessing to me. He is a great homegroup leader and disciple group leader and, like I said about Michael yesterday, is also a part of PIT (Pastors in Training). Also as I said yesterday, Devon was personally asked by Herschel Martindale to take a trip to the Caribbean to scope out the mission field for Tom Short. He is a mean trombonist and just helped bring Buchholz High School's marching band to win a huge competition. His girlfriend is an amazing percussionist... like the Yo Yo Ma of percussion instruments. I can't even start to explain how much I love this guy or how much I know God is going to work through him.
Day 4: Michael Ashton-
Seriously? What is there to not boast about with my roommate, Michael Ashton? So much so, that I don't even have a permanent name for him in my phone because he is constantly doing things that make it difficult to choose which great quality to name him after. He is seriously really good at everything. His fingers can play amazing sounds on the guitar that shouldn't even be humanly possible. I remember the first time I heard him sing, I was so excited to be living with somebody I could sing with again (which hadn't happened since I lived with my sister). Nia and I spent almost a whole semester trying to convince him to sing on a team (though he didn't finally agree until Andrew Gordon mentioned in passing, "Hey, you should sing on the team"). Now he very strongly leads one of the music teams at our church, with so much enthusiasm, he makes Richard Simmons look like Ben Stein. He has been an excellent homegroup leader and 12th Terrace leader and disciple group leader. Even his disciples are excellent leaders in the church. He is a wonderful evangelist. I feel like every time I talk to him, he is saying something along the lines of, "Oh yeah. I went to class today, shared the Gospel and then winked and then the whole class gave their lives to Christ." He has gone on multiple mission trips to the Dominican Republic and picked up Spanish like the Hulk would pick up a feather. He is a part of PIT (Pastors In Training), a group of influential men in our church that meet every two weeks and he even occasionally teaches at Sunday Service. He is the go-to guy for everything for the pastors. In fact, he was personally asked recently by Herschel Martindale himself (the guy who basically invented Great Commission Ministries, our world-wide movement of churches), to take a three day trip to three countries in the Caribbean with my other roommate, Devon, to scope out the place and prepare for Tom Short to go on mission there. And all this, while winning the heart of one pretty young lady, this recent October. I can't even touch the surface of this guy's boast-able achievements.
Day 3: Samuel Mirtil-
If you know my roommate Sam Mirtil (or "Sam the Joyful" as he is in my phone), you probably know that he has a permanent smile tattooed onto his face. For those who don't know him, he doesn't literally have a tattoo on his face, I really just mean he is always smiling. Sam is always laughing and smiling through every possible situation. He once told me, "I got evicted from my apartment," with a huge smile on his face. He is also really patient. You could bring a party with noise makers and elephants in his room while he's trying to sleep, and he would just smile at you and not complain. He plays a mean saxophone. He played on our music team for a semester playing beautiful saxophone duets with Heather. Also, he used to be in a gang in elementary school, so if he were a less patient man, my roommate could probably beat up your roommate.
Day 2: Jacob Lehman-
Let me boast for a minute about my roommate, Jacob Lehman (or as he is listed in my phone "Jacob the Giving"). This guy is such a lover of spending quality time with people. He is great at using every possible opportunity, be it taking a trip to the McDonalds or Kangaroo, or tending our garden with me, or staying back a couple more minutes so he can walk to class with you. Of course, one of my favorite qualities of his, is his giving nature. He is so selfless with his time and his energy. He is always the one who gives up his time to go grocery shopping for the rest of us. One time, he spent days working diligently on fixing our dryer, dissecting it and replacing complicated pieces. He is such a handyman and gentleman. He is always fixing things at the girls' house next door, from their lawn mower, to their dishwasher, washer and dryer, microwave, water heater, hole in their roof, mailbox, Heather's dresser drawer, and I am sure, much more. He set an arsenal of rat traps for the girls and took the lead on taking our cat, Killer, to the vet when he had his staff infection. He's an excellent leader in his homegroup and on 12th Terrace and has been chosen to lead morning prayer for our community here in the Spring. I'm very excited to see what God's going to be doing through my roommate!
Day 1: Michael Rodeman-
Allow me to boast in my roommate, Michael Rodeman (or as he is listed in my phone "Rodeman the Apologist"). From the moment he was saved, I noticed two characteristics that he received upon salvation. The first is his humor. I can't really say that I am certain that humor is a spiritual gift, but if it was, he got it. From the random screeching pterodactyl imitations he makes to the funny phrases that come out of his mouth, his absurdity cannot be beat. The second is his love for apologetics. I remember the first time I shared the Gospel alongside Mr. Rodeman, we spoke to a guy who didn't believe in God and when I was about to give up, because I had nothing to more I could say, Rodeman went off on a very knowledgeable apologetic defense, spouting off facts I couldn't even dream of storing in my head (and this only maybe a week after he himself was saved!). He is also took it upon himself to try to organize what he called the Veritas Forum, where famous Christians and non-Christians would get together at UF and sometimes hold a debate. He also changed his major to Soil and Water Science because he wanted to dig wells in third world countries and reach the nations through that. I have no doubt that God has great plans for my roommate, Michael Rodeman and I love to boast in my brother!
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