Our Faith, missions, knowledge...

About a week ago, after i showed that video to Ashley, i began to think and talk to her about how my life, my thought processes, my faith, etc. has changed. Before i came to Union, and before i went to Romania all of those things were very different. God has definately changed almost everything about me these past two years, and the most significant and most important change is my Faith, which in turn changed everything else in my life. I realized the other day through my conversation with Ash that my Faith has changed the most. this is what i have learned...

I asked myself what was Faith, the Christian life to me in high school and in my past. I had to be honest with myself and i realized that my Faith was dead for the most part, i did things for the kingdom of God but i did not fully understand what it meant to be a Christian besides "sharing the faith" but when i came to Union and found friends and went to Romania did i really see what Belief in motion really is. I was like wow this what my Faith is about, about sacrificing things for Christ, not only for the people and their situations but for the GLORY OF GOD!!!! i have been reading john piper's book "let the nations be glad!" and i realize that it is not just about feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless- it is about WORSHIP about BRINGING GOD the GLORY- in all the nations John Piper says this in his book let the nations be glad=> "Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak. Churches that are not centered on th exaltation of the majesty and beauty of God will scarcely kindle a fervent desire to "declare HIS glory among the nations" (ps. 96:3)" I like this statement because it is so pertinent to me my faith and our christian faith it just changes everything...If i dont have a fervent desire to declare His glory among the nations then what do i have? what is my faith? is my faith meaningful? i think not, if i dont have the desire to declare His glory, what do i have? i guess maybe a Christian t shirt, perhaps a christian emblem on my car--" Jesus Loves You"? it is nothing... As Christians we should have a faith like what john piper has stated here...to have the "fervent desire" to declare his Glory among the nations! We can not simply be stagnant christians, the one's who go to church on sundays and wednesdays, who believe life is peachy and this Christian faith is for us.... our faith is hardly about us, it is all about HIM and the Glory He brings to Himself........

Sacrificing work, money, friendships, everything in life. The bible says that if you do not hate your on parents or your on self, then you can not follow Jesus (john 14). I saw poverty and the need for Jesus in romania more than i have in my past and it has changed me immensely. Faith is real to me now, no more going to church "singing praises, praying, and all the "church"stuff"... Now church is totally different than i thought it was. I have the deisre to be the Church instead attend it like most christians tend to from time to time. We get our hour on sundays and hour on wednesdays and we have our coffee shop talks, and all the other things we try to do to be the "church"...

My faith has changed also because my knowledge has increased...Ecclesiastes 1:18- "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowlede, the more grief."

think about that for a second..................................................................................................................

i read this the other day and was like wow, this is so true. My knowledge has increased in ways that i would have never known if GOD hadn't brought me to Romania two years ago. I have witnessed things that still i can not get my american mind around... God increased my knowledge so that i can grieve, (this grief causes me to be angry righteously angry and to be compelled to bring glory to him)and be forever changed by what i have seen. I have see children who are not loved by anyone, shunned by society, beaten, raped, told that they are worthless, thrown to the streets to call it there home.... this is a horrible thing, i would have never seen this had i not left america and traveled to Romania (yes i know you see things on tv but it wasnt real to me until i saw it firsthand and saw the pain in their eyes i saw their hopelessness). I long to know more so that i would be grieved and would be compelled by the love of our heavenly father to make his Name known, among the nations, to bring all the nations together to sing of HIS GLORY, and for them to be glad. The more i learn about Christ and the bible and the things "under the sun" i realize how far the world is from Christ the atrocities, the wars, the famines, and this knowledge grieves me... I pray that i would have the desire to make his name known because of the knowledge that i have that this World is LOST and Dieing of the need of a SAVIOR, to be Christ to the world!

I learned the definitions of knowledge and wisdom a long time ago but it was told to me like this. Knowledge is knowing ABOUT things and ideas; and wisdom is knowing WHAT TO DO with knowledge and HOW to use it. So our prayer should be not just to obtain knowledge but to obtain wisdom so we know what to do with this knowledge we have been given. If we have knowledge of "everything under the sun" like what i have seen in romania and hear around the world just like these, i should be inclined to ask and seek for wisdom so that i would know what to do with the things that i have been shown..... I think that as we learn more in general and things about God and his plan, GOD will grant us wisdom so that we can know what to do with the knowledge he has given us. Anyways just a thought, i am not sure if any of this knowledge and wisdom talk makes sense to you but it is real to me lol.... not saying much but hey! well i guess i will blog some more later!

I don't know if any of my blabbering makes sense but i hope GOD will use it to speak to you!....
Let the Glory be His,
Chao, Ceau, Ciao Chow!
Praise and honor be to him!

Ceau! i will blog later.... Thanks for reading.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!!

Northbrook Church, prayer requests...etc...

So i am trying to blog more frequently about what i am learning in my personal bible studies, as well as the current happenings in our lives. My personal bible study entries are all currently drafts..lol... i feel like Robin (my mother in law) and her "sermons" that she starts and before she finishes one she is off chasing rabits on another one... lol... i love it. There is lots of things GOD is teaching me and ash and i just dont have time to write them all down on the blog and get them logical haha... anyways!

I just wanted to let everyone know that Ashley and I have found a church, and officially became members of Northbrook Church two sundays ago!. We love it, and we are really excited about serving there.

We are apart of a "SaLT" Group, which stands for Serving and Learning Together. This is "sunday school group" or "cell groups" for lack of better terms. Currently there are 12 people (6 couples)i think with two children. Ashley and I really enjoy this group, we learn lots and cant wait to get to know our fellow SaLTers and growing in Christ together!

Some prayer requests that yall could be praying for Ash and I about are:

• Our oppurtunity to serve at northbrook (whether children or youth or whatever) There are lots of oppurtunities, so pray that we would seek GOD to see how and where GOD wants us to be.
• Our marriage in general.
• Our studies at Union- it gets tough i graduate in decemeber and pray that we want get senioritis!'
• My future job after graduation in Decemeber- I am currently mentoring at Youth Villages (see previous blog) or in the process of getting placed with a teen. I am really seeking a job op there after graduation.
• Ashley's observation hours in the classroom- pray that she would make an impact in her students that she mentors this semester and that she would get in all the required hours in the classroom
• Our current jobs at Red Lobster.
• Our Romanian Mission Trip this summer; in general, funding, and etc.
• Our Futures in Romania as missionaries; pray that GOD would continue to work the details out!
• Our school debt!
• Ashley's back she hurt it or something and it gives her trouble just pray for healing!
• Our Salt Group and Church.
• Our personal time with God- pray that we are undistracted and fully engaging in GOD, as well as making sincere time with the LORD!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading and praying, i look forward to reading your comments, also i fyou have any prayer requests or praises i would love to hear them and talk to you about things that i am learning.... shoot me an email at kaleproberson@hotmail.com and i will get back with you!

Ceau! GOD BLESS!

May He Receive all the Glory!

Kalep

Youth Village!

Yesterday was a fun day, I met my mentor liason for Youth Villages yesterday and was interviewed/ trained. I am excited about the oppurtunity to be a mentor to a teen in the foster care system in Jackson. I have been praying about this for while, and God has made it possible for me to do what i enjoy doing, hanging out with people who do not have the chances that i and many others have. It is going to be fun, and challenging. I am ready to meet my mentee.

The reason i have decided to be a mentor is because I really want to invest in a child that is in a bad situation, i have the strong desrire to show the love of Christ to "the least of these", i need experience for the job market after december so i can hopefully land a job in the psychology field and hopefully the place i work can pay for my LPC lisensure, to get my fix of "romania" while i am dilegently waiting upon God to say ok it is time to GO while i am in America- this oppurtnity is right down my alley because of the situation in Romania with the orphans and homeless, and above all to declare GOD's Glory to a child that does not neccesarily have the chance to see it.

So i ask that you would pray with me as i begin a relationship with my teen, and also know that i can not share any information in accordance with "hipa" laws, So i ask that you pray for my teen, and pray that he would see christ through me, and come to faith if he already has not! and if he is a follower of christ that i would be able to disciple him into a deeper relationship with Christ!

Thanks for reading this, i appreciate it, until next time

Let the Glory be HIS!

Psalms of Praise, and my own personal song of praise.

So it has been awhile since i have blogged. Sorry yall, i just have been thinking alot lately and been extremely busy, however i am working on some more entries, and i when i get them the way i want them i will post. Anyways this post actually is about yesterday at church.

During SaLT group (or a variation on sundayschool that doesnt always happen on sundaymornings) anyways yesterday morning at Ashley and I's SaLT group we talked about Mary's Song, Zacharais's Song, and Simeon's Song in Luke chapters 1 and 2. So let me catch you up on our current study, it is a book called God's big picture, and we have been studying this for about two months and it is basically an overview of the whole bible tying together the storyline together to the overall arching theme of the bible "the Kingdom of God." Moreover, yesterday we talked about the three "psalms of praise" -if you will- in Luke and they all describe God's Soveriegnty and His promises and how He has kept his promises he made personally with each of them and then for God's people and ultimately all of mankind. Greg who "facilitated" the lesson in Walt's absence, had us thinkg of a few things that we can praise God for, modeling the three in Luke or just winging it.

I picked three topics i guess about HOW God has held me through everything and how He has guided me every step of the way. The three themes are My salvation and how He has held me close to Him in times of straying(on my part, as we all tend to do), the second is how He protected me on Feb. 5 at Union univeristy during the Tornado that ripped through Union's Campus that night, and the last of how GOD has blessed me with a wonderful wife and through her how he has made it possible for me to Declare His Glory to all Nations and simply how he has a plan for my life. Here is the poem or song or psalm because it really does not rhyme... and yes i have tweaked it a little to make it flow better because remember i only had like 5 minutes to write this down, however it is nothing like shakespeare haha. ok enjoy....

"The God of my Salvation"

"Praise the God of my Salvation,
the One who snatched me from the pit of my Sin.
Blessed is the One who brought me back to Him,
when I have strayed many times before.
Praise the One who held me under His wing on that bleak February night,
when all of life was literally spinning around me.
Praise be to You, O God,
the One who sustains me and gives me Life, Life everlasting.
I give thanks to You for my wife,
and the way You brought her into my life,
so that i can declare You glory in all the earth.
May I always remember Your Soveriegnty,
and rest upon Your Grace and Mercy.
All Glory, Honor, and Praise be to You,
The God of my Salvation."


So it is not the greatest, but whatever. I pray that GOD will recieve the Glory from this.

Well, yesterday when i read it to my SaLT group, I was overwhelmed with emotion. I do not know where it came from because as i was thinking and writing it, i was not emotional, however when i began the first line, I was overwhelmed at the thought of all HE has done for me, and i cried, not tears of sadness, but tears of JOY, undeservingness, and tears of Humility. Oh it was refreshing to think about OUR GOD's lovingkindess, soveriegnty, love, compassion, grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness, and so on. So i ask that you would do the same, when you have free time write a song of praise modeling the three songs of those in Luke, or perhaps from the book of Psalms, oh it was refreshing to do this. So i encourage you to spend time today with our Creator, praising him for being the GREAT I AM. praise Him because He is simply "I AM" what an amazing thought. Well i hope you enjoyed this and will take my proposition to heart. Thanks for reading and as always,

Let the Glory be His,
Kalep

We are all in this together...

I found this video today, and it made me think, alot, and analyze my life, priorities, etc. I pray that it makes you do the same. It left me speechless and guilty.

i will let the video speak for it self. let me know what you think! Ceau!

an atrocity

before you start reading forgive me for my typos, i tend to have lots. ;) Also, forgive me if i offend you, its just what is on my heart! Happy Reading!

So i have been thinking for a while now, almost two years now about one statistic that bothers me.

Here is the statistic..

"20% of the world lives on 80% of the world's wealth, while 80% of the world lives on 20% of the world's wealth."

There of course are many more statistics like this one that deal with poverty and the like out there, but this one has stuck with me for sometime. I used to be the person who thought America is the greatest country in the world, do not get me wrong in many ways it is the greatest country in the world, but when i found out that America makes up a majority of the 20% that lives on 80% of the worlds wealth.I was dumbfounded. I always saw the poverty on television and heard about the atrocities in other parts of the world, but i guess like most people i brushed it off, was desensitized to it, or perhaps, i frankly did not care. i think i was a little of all three, but it was never made real to me until the first time i stepped off of a plane into Budapest, Hungary and road in a van to Romania did poverty have a true effect on me. This was my first mission trip and it was only my first few hours there did i see the poverty as we drove past various villages we saw the poor conditions of homes, and dirty children, ran down vehicles, and everything.

BUT the real eyeopener was when we went to the Gypsy village of Dobresti, Romania for the first time. That was the time did poverty throw me. I was floored, heart broken, and all the emotions that go along with these things. Homes that were about 8 feet by 8 feet, one room where families of 6 or more slept, cooked, ate, lived, and so on... The roof was patchy the walls were dirt and clay brick, the roofs were made of twigs and sticks, and shrubbery. No running water, only a dirty puddle, where water flowed and settled, it was filled with frogs mud and all sorts of other bacteria. I saw children bathing and splashing around in their "drinking water". Oh the things i have taken for granted. I had a Woe is me moment. Never more should i gripe and complain, i thought. however, soon i would be complaining that it was way to hot, and i wished there were air conditioning in Romania! Then with the help of a very Godly and loving women, i realized that i was complaining yet again. i thought Kalep WHAT THE WORLD... you see all this poverty and yet you leave the village and are still grumbling. Another Woe is me... moment.

Their is so much to the trip that changed my world view and my life for ever. The Gospel finally came to life for me. The life of Christ was made real to me and i realized that Jesus was with the "least of these" and he himself was poor, moreover,

as James 1:27 says "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world"

this verse is the core verse to which Belief in Motion and Project 127 was founded upon. And throughout my trip i read this verse that was posted on the wall in the kitchen of the Bruski's home. Although i had read James over and over in my lifetime and how i loved this book, this verse never stuck out to me i grazed over it, like i assume most of us have before, or do. I focused on the persecution part of this chapter, but i never really took much thought on the latter part of this chapter. Pure Religion that GOD our Father accepts is this.... wow... the bible was more alive to me than ever before... To be the hands and feet of Jesus was real to me.

......

Moreover, throughout the past two years since my first trip to Romania in the Summer of 2007, I have pondered this statistic. I have questioned GOD, asking him why me and not them.? Why am i blessed immeasurable and undeserving and not them? why am i the one who sleeps on a "feather top pillow" and feather top bed? in a warm home? WHY... This is not fair, i thought and still think from time to time. Why do i have so many things, pointless things? computers? ipods? expensive cars? nice cell phone? more clothes than i need? 3+ warm meals a day?... why GOD why am i blessed.? it is a good question to ask God I think...God answered me with this verse in Luke chapter 12 verse 48?...

"But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked"....

WOW, how profound, how terrifying, how humbling. I sat and i wondered, as i still do about this command that to whom much is given much is required", i think how much have i been given.... yea it definitely surpasses what i have given back and i have definitely fallen short on the latter part of that verse. much required? WOE IS ME, GOD SAVE ME FROM THIS PIT OF MY SIN!!!! I have not done my part, i have failed miserably... I have been given so much more than i deserve, money, cars, education, things, opportunities, and yet what have i done in return for the Kingdom of God. How can i continue to pursue the things of this world ....after seeing all the poverty in Romania and the need to show them the GOD that loves them, and cares about them to children who have nothing and have been abandoned abused and neglected their entire life... how can i? i ask my self every day not to be entangled by things, not to be consumed with materialism, but day after day i struggle with this very concept of wanting, or should i say "needing". i need nothing, i have the neccesities to life as well as so much more...

the other day, i had two friends come over who are from Mexico and eat with Ashley and i, and hang out with them at my house. I wanted to get to know them more. they told us that their families are back in Mexico City while they are here working 80+ hours a week in order to provide for their family. they said they miss their families a lot, and one day they hope to return to their hometowns, and be with their families but right now they must work.... what an awful life they live. They are sacrificing so much to make it in this world, and here i am in my beautiful apartment, with so much "junk" that i could live with out, and here they are fighting and sacrificing to provide just a little for their families. I told them, that it is not fair that one country can be immeasurably rich while next door a country suffers greatly and is impoverished. Here again i ask GOD why me? i find my self wanting to waste my money on entertainment, whether it be watching movies from blockbuster, playing video games, going out to eat a meal that is way to expensive when i compare it to what i can do at home for less instead of using my money for furthering the kingdom of GOD, I am constantly finding my self captivated by materialism, oh i long to be be rid of it, wish i could trade places with an impoverished person so that i would know how it is to do with out because i really can not point back to a time in my lfie where i was in need of anything...

I have been given so much and exceedingly but here i am wanting more and more and more and more, while i know and have seen that there are people who have that much less that i have...

This is an atrocity that i would lavish myself with pointless things of this world, and let children die of hunger, and i just want to go to a buffet and eat and gorge myself on food, while one loaf of bread and unclean water is what a family gets maybe for a week..... AHHHHHH my heat breaks, humble me GOD, GOD HELP ME, and save me from this idolatry, make me like Christ, i want to rather spend my time with the least of these than with the rich, GOD humble me so that i may be able to do your will. God has not called me to share HIS love grace and mercy to the nations, he has commanded me. Matthew 28:16-20. I am a firm believer that all Christians are commanded to be "great commission christians" (for lack of a better term)....

i will this blog there, i pray that GOD would be Glorified in this, and i pray that you would see the need to share Christ's love with everyone you come in to contact with, and i also pray that you would join me in the great commission, being Jesus' hands and feet in a lost and dying world, i pray that you would see the need of so many people in other parts of the world. I pray GOD would change our hearts to be so giving that no one would go with out need, like in Acts Chapter 4:32
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. 33With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. 34There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.
36Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

This is what the Christian church should look like, no one should be in need of anything and we should be willing to seel everything we have in order to help others.

Thanks for reading this long post. I hope you are encouraged! Ceau!!!!