Justin the Word Blog

Week 2 Day 1

We woke up at 6 a.m. like normal and continued our devotions in the book of John. On this day, we went through the second chapter of John. Chapter 2 talks about the story of Jesus turning water into wine at the wedding He was attending. This spoke to me on a personal level.

I found it interesting that Mary had to convince Jesus to perform the miracle. Jesus told Mary that it was not His time. He did it anyway because he respected Mary as his mother and wanted to honor her faith in Him. This really hit me because it made me realize that God’s timing is and should be the most important thing in my life. It also made me realize that I did not have a job because it freed me up to be on this trip. There was a reason that He wanted me in Lake Tahoe. At this point in my trip, I did not quite know what that reason was—I just knew that it would be super important in my walk with Him.
After devotionals, I had to head to my second shift at McDonald’s. This is where we got to put the training we learned on the first day into practice. When I got to work, the manager put my friend that I traveled with and I together. Our main job was to keep the lobby clean and keep waiting on the customers. When the store was busy, it was great. I got to refill drinks for people, put the dirty trays in the back of the store to get washed, and keep tables clean as customers left. It was when there were no people in the dining room that the job was boring because you are just standing around waiting for someone to come into the dining room. After my required ten-minute break, my manager sent me to the drive-through to be trained in that area. I really liked the drive-thru because you had the opportunity to talk to the customers as you were waiting for their food to come out of the kitchen.
From that point forward, I could see myself working the drive-thru for the rest of the summer and beyond because it did not require me to move around the store a whole lot and I was getting good at it. My manager even liked the way I handled the window because he kept me there for the rest of the shift. In fact, my friend that drove me to work that day stayed with me as well, and we were there until 5:00 pm that day, which only gave us forty-five minutes to get back to camp, change, and be at dinner on time.

At dinner, we heard a couple more testimonies and ate this hamburger salad thing. I was on cloud nine because it looked like I would be working the window for the rest of the summer. I got to share my excitement with all my new friends and the directors because I was going to have a great summer working with my new friends serving the Lake Tahoe community.

After dinner, we had teaching night. For teaching night, we had a more in-depth study on sharing our faith. Plus, we got to know our directors and leaders a little better because each of them shared their journey with CRU and why they were with us in Lake Tahoe over the summer. I really enjoyed this teaching night because it taught me a lot about CRU as an organization. I am really praying on joining CRU staff one day because I think it would be an amazing opportunity to be able to serve Jesus as a full-time career and travel the world.

After teaching night, my roommate, a few guys, and I decided to take the 45-minute drive to Carson City to get the famous In-N-Out Burger. Those of us who had been to In-N-Out be very excited, especially to be able to go with people who had never been before. I had a fun time because like twenty of us took this trip and we really had a good time getting to know each other on a deeper level. What made this fun is we all ordered the same meal and enjoyed it together. Afterwards, we all went to bed to prepare for the next day.

Week 2 Day 2

We woke and dove into John chapter 3. We read verses 1 through 21. This passage talks about Jesus giving Nicodemus a homie talks on the mountaintop about being born in the spirit. You can tell in this passage of scripture that Nicodemus was trying to understand what Jesus was telling him; he just was not in the right headspace or heart space to understand. It really had me thinking because how often do I pray and ask God for something and He answers me, and I do not hear it because I am not looking in the correct place for the answer? Then, I keep asking when He has already given me my answer.

This devotion made me really think that I need to be more intentional about getting into His word and having quality time with Him daily. As I reflected in this moment, it also made me realize that God was not allowing me to get a job because He wanted me to be on this trip. He was teaching me then and is still teaching me today that I need to make Him my sole source of comfort and satisfaction. Being on this trip was forcing me to fully trust Him for guidance and comfort. It was at this point where I really started diving into scripture and began adjusting my heart to make God number one in my heart and making Him more of a priority in my daily life. This devotion not only opened my eyes to things I need to work on, but it also encouraged me to make changes to my life.

After devotionals, I went back to sleep until 10 because I knew that most businesses in that area didn’t open until at least 9:30. A group of us went out job hunting together because some people were also leaving McDonald’s because they were not getting the hours that they were promised. So, we went to different places around camp to see if anybody was still hiring for the summer. The struggle was that most everybody wants you to apply online these days and we did not have the best internet connection on camp. I decided to go to a local coffee shop that was within walking distance of camp to get these applications filled out. Then something powerful happened that changed my perspective on where my focus needed to be for the rest of the trip.

I was on the phone with my best friend, and this phone call was a divine intervention because it was one of the most powerful conversations I have ever had. My friend got a message from God for him and I. Basically; he said that God wants me to make Him more of a priority in my life and depend less on my friends that I should be seeking God for. He also stated that God does not want me working because God needed me to make Him and my relationship with Him more of a priority because I need to depend on Him for every area of my life. God said that He wants to bless me with everything that I have been praying for, but I need to make Him more of a priority and trust Him with what I have now so that I can be trusted with more. God has been preparing me for my purpose—I just need to be more focused and do the things He is asking me to do.

This conversation had me floored and I had to take some time to process it. I felt really honored that God would give me a message through my very best friend. It hit me hard because it spoke to everything I was feeling during this time. So, I hung up the phone and went on a prayer walk to process what I had just heard from the Lord. This prayer walk involved me asking God what this will look like for me, especially when I get home. God told me not to worry about when I get home and to just focus on being present in Lake Tahoe.

It was soon time for dinner, and I was ready to start getting to know my new friends in Lake Tahoe. During dinner, we got to hear a couple powerful testimonies from some of the CRU student staff. During dinner every night, we got to hear testimonies from fellow students, and it was powerful and really cool. It brought us closer together and grew our bond because we got to hear each other’s stories and things we had to overcome to get to where we are today. One cool thing was the life group leader of the last person who gave the testimony prayed over the people who gave testimonies and the meal we were about to enjoy.

After dinner, we had another practical training session on sharing the gospel with people with other types of religious backgrounds. We had an opportunity to break off into groups and practice sharing the gospel with this new resource we had been given known as the KGP. It is a little booklet that explains the need for a savior and how we cannot rely on ourselves to run our own lives. It explains that we need Jesus and giving Him authority of our lives gives us a lot more peace and freedom.
I never really had the opportunity to use the KGP because it was best used if someone felt the need to always be in control. I felt that if it were outside that use case, the points would not hit as hard, and the person might not understand or relate to the message as deeply.

Week 2 Day 3

This was a Saturday and since most of my small group was off work, we did not have to wake up until 7:30 AM. Honestly, it was very nice to sleep for an extra hour and a half. That day for devotions, we dove into John 3:22-36. This passage of scripture really hit home for me because I finally was really discovering why the Lord wanted me to be on this trip.

You see, in this passage it talks about how John the Baptist was pointing people to Jesus. He was giving God the Father and Jesus credit and worship. To me, he was saying the same thing throughout this chapter as he had been throughout his ministry, which is, “I am preparing a way for the true Messiah and everything I am doing is preparing a path for His ministry.” Every chance he got, he would point directly to Jesus. Which got me thinking about my life and my walk with the Lord.

The way that John the Baptist dedicated everything he did to the Lord and preparing a way to His ministry made me realize how much I take credit for things that God has empowered me to do. God brought me on this trip to get my attention and to get me to realize that I need to start acknowledging the work that God has empowered me to do. He wants me to work in a way that everything I do reflects Him and the things He is doing in my life. This really made me reflect and realize that even though I was not acknowledging Him like I should, He was still providing for me. This made me realize too that I was not giving God my career. My mind was saying God, you have my entire future in Your hands, but my heart was not.

For so long, I was working so hard at trying to find work, managing my schedule, and managing my finances. I was neglecting to consult God in any of it. Do not get me wrong, having a career and budgeting are great things to do, but none of it will work out completely if you do not include God in the planning and implementation of that plan. He wants to be a part of the entire process, not just at the end when it fails or when things are hard. We need to include Him in the entire process, so that He can get glory and the credit. Being His child means looking to Him for everything, not just the major stuff. It was so freeing to know that He brought me all the way to Tahoe to help me learn how to seek and depend on Him with everything I do.
After devotionals, I honestly took a two-hour nap because I was tired from being up late the previous few nights as I was hanging with my new friends. After my nap, I went with my roommate to grab some food and head over to the laundromat to get our clothes washed, which was a very eye-opening experience for me.
First, the idea of having to go to a laundromat made me appreciate the fact that I have a washer and dryer in my house here in Florida. Secondly, the cost of doing laundry was like $10 per week depending on where you went and how many times you had to dry your clothes. There were also a few positives that came out of having to go to the laundromat.

Going to the laundromat forced me to slow down and take a break. You see, there is a rule at laundromats that says not to leave your clothes unattended. Leaving clothes unattended gives the people who work their permission to take their clothes out of a washer or dryer and put them anywhere. So, I used my laundry time reading and catching up with my family and friends back home. If I went with people, I tried to take the time to get to know them and their stories. Since I went with my roommate, I decided to focus on getting to know him.

Over the time that I got to spend with my roommate, it was very cool to get to know him. I found out that he is a math major seeking to be a professor, which was cool to learn because I would have never guessed that he would be a math major because he is really into drawing and art. At this moment, I realized that not only do I need to get better at communicating with God, but I need to learn how to get myself out there and be more sociable, getting to know people around me. I tend to only socialize with just the group of people that I spend time with. It really got me thinking about how I can work on getting myself out there.

After we were done washing our clothes, we made it back to camp just in time for dinner. We ate dinner at a local restaurant because on Saturdays the camp did not provide dinner. At 7 PM, we had another family night, but this was one of, if not the, most powerful night of the trip.

For this family night, the men and the women separated and went to two different churches in the local area and had a night of confession with each other. The men went to the local Lutheran church, and I honestly do not know where the women went. Anyway, it was so powerful because you were able to see people breaking away from things that kept them captive for so long.

How this worked was when a guy stood up in front of the room and confessed the things that they needed to confess. Then, a small group of men went to a different part of the room and prayed over him. It was so powerful because you could really feel the Holy Spirit in the room. I am not going to share anything that was shared because it was a sacred place and everything that was shared there was meant to stay in that room. Leaving that night, there was such a tight bond that grew between us that night and we started really talking and supporting each other from that point forward.

After we got back, I stayed in my cabin, put my clothes away, and rested. I was tired because my body was still getting used to the schedule. Since I had not worked for a period at this point, I was not used to having my entire day planned out. Plus, I knew that we had church and sharing the next day that I needed to be rested for.

Week 2 Day 4

This was a Sunday, so we got to sleep in a little bit because we did not have to be at church until 10 AM. I rode with the same group that I rode with the first week. As we were still getting used to the schedule, my car was still late. God was using this to teach me not to let little things bother me. Though it was hard, with His strength I soon learned how to let stuff like this go. I was there worshipping Him and getting to hear a great message.

It was only the second week, but I was already starting to build a connection with this church. For this message, we continued going through the first chapter of Luke. This time, the pastor focused on the contrast between Zechariah’s and Mary’s response to the messages from God delivered to them via Gabriel. Which was interesting and made me reflect on the ways that I respond to God. As the message went on, the more I realized it is all about the heart posture on how we receive these messages.

You see, Zechariah focused so much on the logical and physical possibilities that he was forgetting that God works way outside our understanding. But as he began to see that it was coming true, his faith got stronger, which is why he named John as Gabriel instructed. At least that is what I am choosing to believe. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. Had Zechariah chosen a different name, who knows if he would have ever been able to speak again. That reminds me of many times God must make things so obvious in my life that I have no choice but to believe and recognize that God is working in my situation.

When it came to Mary, she just responded with faith. She just trusted the words that Gabriel spoke over her life and submitted herself to God’s will. This is something that I strive to do, but I do not always do. Too many times, in my walk, I focus on what is physically possible versus what is possible through God if I just let Him work in my life. This was a hard lesson for me to learn while I was away, but the beautiful thing was when I started surrendering things to Him, the more free my mind became to focus on the things that He has put in front of me each day. Mary’s response made me realize that if I give everything to Him and follow His guidance, I will have less to think about because He has all the details planned out for me already.

After that amazing message, we headed back to camp to prepare to go sharing. On the way back, we stopped at McDonald’s for a quick lunch because we did not have much time to eat before we had to be back at camp to go sharing.

Back at camp, we got our assigned locations to go sharing. That week was unique because it was raining at some of the locations we would normally go to, so some of the groups went to locations while others shared digitally, then we switched halfway through. For the first half, my group was assigned to the outdoor mall. I do not think we had any in-depth conversations due to the limited time we had on site. One lesson we learned is how to communicate if more than one group approaches someone who is not interested in talking so that we are not upsetting anyone too much.
Then when we transferred to digital outreach, something powerful took place that I will get to share in a future update. However, seeds were planted that day because since that day I have had conversations with people I have known for years, and I truly got to know something about them and get to know them on a truly deeper level. Anyway, for this digital outreach, we texted people in our contacts asking them about their perspective on spiritual things. Some people responded immediately while others took a couple of weeks to respond. Either way, great things came out of it that I am looking forward to sharing in a future post.

After sharing that day, we got into a time of reflection as a camp during this time. We got the opportunity to share with the camp conversations we had either in person or in a digital format. This was honestly my favorite part of the week because I got to hear all about the lives being changed for God that I got to be a part of. I think that time I shared about this couple I met at the outdoor mall, and they were nice. The lady was a Christ follower, and the man was not. We had the opportunity to answer some of his questions to get him that much closer to Jesus. The cool thing was at the end of the conversation; they told us that they only agreed to have a conversation with us because I looked like and reminded them of someone in their lives. It just shows that God will plant a seed using just something as small as the way you present yourself to that person. I felt humbled that God just used the way He created me to have a conversation with those people.

After everyone shared stories, we went straight into dinner. On Sundays, the directors of our camp barbequed hamburgers and hot dogs for us. I usually had cheeseburgers because I am honestly not a huge fan of hot dogs.

After dinner, I believe we all just rested because a lot of us had to work the next day. I updated my friends back home on my week and what God was teaching me over the past week, even though it was hard to talk on the phone due to the lack of signal. It was hard not having my friends with me to share the incredible things that God was doing in and through me in Lake Tahoe, but I knew God was using this trip to bring me closer to Him. I was starting to become my own person and grow my faith in the Lord. I am honestly a little sad that it has taken me this long to learn the lessons that God was teaching during that time.

Week 2 Day 5

This is the day where things changed for me and God began getting me to realign my focus on Him and not put so much effort on my circumstances. From that day on, my bond and attention to God have really gotten stronger. Keep in mind I am still a work in progress, but this day has been a key component in my walk with Him.

Anyway, it started out as a normal Monday. I woke up, had breakfast and devotional time with my life group, and got ready for work. That morning, we read John 4:1-26 and this is the story of the woman at the well. This day it spoke to me differently than it had before because I was really starting to really grow in my faith.

You see, I would argue that this woman had more faith and boldness than a lot of us have. She heard everything that Jesus had to say and went and told everyone she knew the great news that Jesus shared with her. My group and I discussed how we could use this story to help us as we shared that same good news as we share with people in the Lake Tahoe community. It gave me some motivation to share with people beyond our sharing time.

After breakfast, I got dressed and took my chair to start my next shift at McDonald’s. When I got there and clocked in, my manager put me at the window for breakfast and the beginning of lunch. If I am honest, the breakfast window was very slow and a little boring because there was a big gap between waiting for customers in between orders. Since a lot of people at my camp worked at McDonald’s, I had a good opportunity to talk with my co-missionaries, hear their stories, and I really enjoyed it. My first break seemed like it came quick.

After taking my first ten-minute break, the manager moved me back into the lobby. As mentioned before, the lobby tended to be boring because not a lot of people sit and eat too much. I was getting ready to go on my lunch break and my manager sent me home because there were too many people scheduled to work that day. So, I grabbed food for my lunch, ate, and made my way back to camp.
When I got back to camp, I changed out of my uniform and laid down to take a nap. However, as soon as I got comfortable, I received a text from my life group leader asking me to meet with him and a couple of the directors from the camp. I had a feeling the news that I was about to receive was not going to be great. I got up, put my shoes on, and made my way back to the picnic tables where we had all our meals.

Upon arriving at the picnic table where they were sitting, I knew that whatever this was about, it was not good. As I sat down and greeted everyone, they gave the table to the director in charge of getting us jobs. Fighting back his tears, he informed me that my manager at McDonald’s reached out to him informing him that they were having trouble accommodating me, so they were letting me go and terminating my position.

Getting this news, I was in shock, but still calm, as though at the back of my head I knew it was coming. The Lord blessed me with peace and understanding. The only thing that upset me a little is that my manager did not tell me directly. He went through the camp. Otherwise, I think the people around me were more upset about the situation than I was. After the meeting, I called my parents and best friends about what had occurred. By the time I finished updating them, it was time for dinner.
At dinner, we heard a few other testimonies and ate. Then we also had our life group meeting that night as well. We had a great conversation in our life groups about going through difficult situations. Between that and a conversation I had with my best friend, I realized that God did not want me to work so that I could focus on growing deeper with the Lord and my trust in Him. Which honestly is a theme in my life lately: growing in faith and trusting that God will have it under control.
Getting back from life group, I was tired, so I made my way to bed.

Week 2 Day 6

As a normal day, we woke up at 6 AM for our morning devotional time. Today we continued through John four. We read verses 27 through 42. This passage continues the story of the woman at the well. It shows everyone that she shared with who came to meet Jesus for themselves. The passage also talks about Jesus showing the disciples that He relies on the Father for everything He needs to fulfill the will of the Father.

This devotion had not one but two powerful messages. The first message centered around the actions of the woman at the well. Instead of letting Jesus share the gospel with her and go about her day, she took the best news she received in her entire life and ran to tell everyone that would listen to her. The best part of that story is that those people that heard her story saw Jesus for themselves. Which made me really reflect on how important it was that we were in Lake Tahoe. Also, how I should be sharing Jesus everywhere I go no matter where I am. As Christians, we have the greatest news in the entire universe and we need to be bold for Jesus and share it with anyone and everyone because you never know who God will put in your path for you to give them the good news.

The second lesson I got out of this was that God needs to be my provider in everything. I need to start seeking Him for all my needs, big and small. It is almost freeing when you have that realization because your mindset goes from “I need to [do something] in order to [achieve] x, y, and z,” to “Ok God, you know my needs. What do You want me to focus on today?” He will guide you and you will be filled in a way that I cannot understand. It really frees you from a lot of stress because you know that He has it under control. Please, if you are reading this and would like to dive deeper into this lesson, please email me or comment below and I would be happy to dedicate a post to this. I just do not have time to post this already long post.

After devotion, I went out with one of my friends to start looking for another summer job. She was very kind and drove me everywhere to see if anyone was still looking for summer help. The issue was that most places nowadays really want you to apply online, but we did not have the best connection back at the campsite where I could fill out applications without having to repeat the process a dozen times before submitting the applications. However, I did have one place at the outdoor mall to give me a paper application.

Dinner came quickly that night. As usual, we got to hear more amazing testimonies from the people with which I was camping. At this point, it made me realize how long but powerful my own testimony was, and I was getting very excited to share it.

After dinner, we had our second reflection night. This one was powerful for me because I read the Psalms and I really felt God talk to me and confirm everything my best friend shared with me the day before. I remember sitting at the table with my journal and my Bible just weeping as the Lord was talking to me. He was saying, “Let it all go. I want it.” He was saying, “Justin, I want to bless you in a powerful way. I just need you to focus on Me and put your full trust in Me and I will take care of the rest.” I remember feeling this overwhelming peace that I cannot describe. All I can say is from that moment on, my walk has gotten closer with the Lord, and I do not stress as much as I used to. I am still working in progress, but I feel Him more than I ever have.

I went for a long walk after, just praising and talking to Him. Then I remember laying down after because I was exhausted.

Week 2 Day 7

For devotionals, we read John 4:43-57 where Jesus heals the boy without being with the boy. This taught me that Jesus heals even with the tiniest bit of faith. A lot of times people come up to me asking to pray for me and a lot of times it is on the topic of healing. While I do appreciate it, I do believe that Jesus healed me already and continues to do so every day. You will see that as you read my testimony on my About Me page. Healing has always been a big topic of my faith walk, but I do believe I am healed and yet He is still working on me.

After devotional time, I took a nap while I waited for stores to open. I decided to walk to the coffee shop and apply for jobs. As I was applying for jobs, I also got the courage to start writing this blog. This was when I discovered that I really enjoy writing. So, the birth of the blog came.

I got back to camp just in time for dinner, which we had pasta that night. After dinner, since it was a free night, we watched Lord of the Rings part one and went to bed.

That wraps up in week two. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Thank you for your support, you next time!