I don’t ever plan on having a real job…

It’s been a while, I’m sorry! I’ve been super busy down here in my second home!

I have a wicked imagination, if you know me, you know that could be an understatement. My brain has the retention of a goldfish I think. I am constantly looking for new ideas and places to go. This summer has very much changed my opinions on life, work, and travel. Mom and Dad, I’m sorry that the whole summer internship/class/job thing isn’t what I look for.

Most kids my age are starting to act like adults, boooooooooo. Here’s the thing, I’ve got literally my whole life to be a grown up. I want to work and have a job but I just want to do it in different countries where my salary may look a little different and involve food and a bed. God has blessed me with an amazing family that’s nothing but supportive of my want to do mission work and a girlfriend that is willing to FaceTime me from around the world.

Money is important and doing well in school is important and doing stuff to gain connections in the “business world” is important. It may be that I’m naive but that stuff just isn’t at the top of my priority list. I have began to scratch the surface of idea that relationships and following God’s plan is more important.

I believe that God has called me to a life in missions in some capacity. I don’t really know what He wants but I know it’s not sitting at a desk selling things to people and wearing a tie and looking at a screen from 9-5 everyday. I want to do what God wants and I think that is to make relationships and learn from people who have less material things. From what I’ve learned from the people here in Nicaragua family, friends and relationships are what make you rich.

That being said I’ve spent the better part of this summer thinking about what that is going to look like next summer. I just have an itch to go to some remote jungle and hang out with people. I have no idea how that is going to happen but I am looking and praying. (If anyone knows an non-profit Christian organizations around the world that will feed me and put me in a bed in exchange for work hmu.)

I think that while living out what the Lord wants, you never work. It may feel like work sometimes when it gets hard or uncomfortable but that usually only lasts for a little bit. When you slow down and see Jesus working in people the feeling of work disappears and the feeling of living, truly living comes.

When I say I don’t want to be a grown up I don’t mean that I don’t want responsibility or a family or to be mature. I think you can have all the benefits of being an adult while having the faith and excitement of a child. I want to glorify God and I don’t think that making myself unhappy by doing something I don’t want to do is glorifying God.

I was so inspired to hear that Francis Chan left his church, comfort bubble, and home to follow was God was calling him to do. He packed up and moved to Asia to be a missionary. Just like that, his life changed and I’m sure a lot of people didn’t understand what he was doing but he must have had the faith of a child and the adventurous spirit of a kid to do that.

This is kind of all random and not very organized or whatever but that goes to show that my mind is a little off. To sum it up, I want to live out God’s plan for me by loving people and loving Him. Right now, I feel that to do that my life may look a little different than most kids my age. I have nothing against money, business success, or 401K’s, I just don’t think that’s the life that God has planned for me.

Much love, can’t wait to be back in the States and see everyone (except I kinda can wait lol),

For real though, Love God Love People.

B-Rad

Love Your Neighboor

I’m back!

First, I just want to say thank you for reading these posts, the fact that there are people out there who care enough about me and my adventures is a beautifully humbling truth. My life is good, really good (in a Nacho Libre accent). Life here in Nicaragua is everything I’ve ever hoped for and more. The things that the Lord is doing through the teams that come here and the staff here at El Ayudante is incredible and a testament that God is good, all the time and all over the world.

I keep being reminded of a simple truth that encompasses what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. That is to love God, and to love people. This is the most important thing we can do as Christians. Going to church and learning theology is important but I’m a fan of keeping it simple. God put us in community with other human beings so that we can love each other and help them love God more, too. This is what Jesus said was our most important commandment.

Without sounding egotistical, I believe that the Lord has blessed me with a gift to make friends very quickly and even more so than that, I have been given an open soul. I love to make friends and I love to get into deep issues very early on in a relationship. I can’t focus well in school and I can’t do a lot of other great things but one thing I can do is love people and the only reason I am able to love is because the One who created me loved me first. Without the love of Christ, we are hopeless and without the love we receive from others we are bound to a life that is less than what God planned for us.

I’ve had the amazing opportunity to meet a LOT of people here, Nicaraguans, Americans and all sorts of people. This past week, a team from Huntsville, Alabama was here and it really hit me that ministry isn’t building houses and giving away food. Ministry, in its simplest form in making relationships. I made friends that God willing, can be lifelong friendships. I came to the realization that people are people and everyone has the same type of issues and Christ calls us to love and to love well. Big shoutout to Huntsville for diving into serious friendships with me and the people here, not knowing them at all when they arrived. It’s an incredible picture of what life should be like.

To all my friends stateside and around the world, slow down. Slow down enough to see the people that God has placed in your life at this moment and make some dang friends. Slow down and breath in the air that’s in front of you. Don’t worry about the future or the past( Big Al), love the life you live and trust the God that created you and life will work itself out.

Much love,

B-rad