Hello All,
Over the past week or so, I have been spending all of my time researching, developing, and designing a website for a vision that God has put in my heart for drilling water wells here in Piura Peru. The website is finally finished and God is opening so many doors to help the rural poor of Peru. Please follow the following link and take a few minutes to read about the Peru Water Project!
www.peruwaterproject.org
God Bless,
Justin
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
I must and will DREAM BIG!
Big Dreams
How suffocating it can be to live within the boundaries of human ability. when we confine our thinking to the limitations of what is known, what we have experienced or what we are able to imagine, the mental playing field is relatively small.
When you have captured God's vision for your ministry, one of your first reactions will be, But that's ridiculous; we could never do that. If you persist, though, and conclude that this is what He is calling you to do, often you will recognize that His dreams are bigger tan yours and that they call for you to expand the size of your mental playing field to accommodate His vision.
Great power can result from dreaming big. Such vision implies a long-term approach to ministry. Many leaders suffer from having constantly to rethink their vision because it is so small that they accomplished it quickly, or because it was so insignificant that it barely seemed worth the effort. God's vision for your life, though, is grand. His vision is not one you are likely to accomplish in a year or two. A few Christian visionaries have learned that once you catch His vision, it will outlive you. Your role is to grasp it, to articulate it and to ensure that it is acted upon. Your responsibility is not to see it come to a conclusion. Work toward that end, but do not feel incomplete if it s not fully accomplished in your lifetime. Simply being part of making that vision become a reality will seem like a sufficient reward.
Dream big, through God's enablement, is also one means of allowing the church to see and to reflect God's power and majesty. His desire are so much better and more meaningful than our own that when we envision them and fully support them, the spiritual and emotional empowerment is incredible. people become genuinely excited over the grand possibilities. The magnitude of the task is dwarfed by the realization that He wants to do it, and He intends to make it happen through you.
(taken from "The Power of Vision" by George Barna. pg. 96&97)
These statement are very true and should be followed in order not to limit God to what we know or imagine...
GOD BLESS
How suffocating it can be to live within the boundaries of human ability. when we confine our thinking to the limitations of what is known, what we have experienced or what we are able to imagine, the mental playing field is relatively small.
When you have captured God's vision for your ministry, one of your first reactions will be, But that's ridiculous; we could never do that. If you persist, though, and conclude that this is what He is calling you to do, often you will recognize that His dreams are bigger tan yours and that they call for you to expand the size of your mental playing field to accommodate His vision.
Great power can result from dreaming big. Such vision implies a long-term approach to ministry. Many leaders suffer from having constantly to rethink their vision because it is so small that they accomplished it quickly, or because it was so insignificant that it barely seemed worth the effort. God's vision for your life, though, is grand. His vision is not one you are likely to accomplish in a year or two. A few Christian visionaries have learned that once you catch His vision, it will outlive you. Your role is to grasp it, to articulate it and to ensure that it is acted upon. Your responsibility is not to see it come to a conclusion. Work toward that end, but do not feel incomplete if it s not fully accomplished in your lifetime. Simply being part of making that vision become a reality will seem like a sufficient reward.
Dream big, through God's enablement, is also one means of allowing the church to see and to reflect God's power and majesty. His desire are so much better and more meaningful than our own that when we envision them and fully support them, the spiritual and emotional empowerment is incredible. people become genuinely excited over the grand possibilities. The magnitude of the task is dwarfed by the realization that He wants to do it, and He intends to make it happen through you.
(taken from "The Power of Vision" by George Barna. pg. 96&97)
These statement are very true and should be followed in order not to limit God to what we know or imagine...
GOD BLESS
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving in Peru!
I never thought that I would be celebrating Thanksgiving in another country! But here I am in Piura Peru getting ready to sit down and eat a Thanksgiving Turkey cooked just for me, because I am from America and we celebrate Thanksgiving there so the family that I am staying with does not want me to miss out on the celebration. I guess that it is also a good excuse for a party! Latin American countries love to party and I don't blame them. Where else can you get together with all of your best friends and family to talk and laugh all night long...?
I will update with a few pictures promptly after finishing the celebrations. I hope that Thanksgiving is going great to all of you back home in the States...
GOD BLESS....
I will update with a few pictures promptly after finishing the celebrations. I hope that Thanksgiving is going great to all of you back home in the States...
GOD BLESS....
Monday, November 19, 2007
Juarez (Huancabamba) Bathroom Project
Greetings to all! I am now back in Piura, Peru where I will be living for the next two or three months. I am staying in the house of Roberto Castillo who is my contact here in Peru. Roberto lives in McDonough Georgia with his wife Mindy and two girls Carol Anne and Emily. In August of this year I was privledeged to come to Peru with his family and my brother Eli. We went all around the area of Piura on a "scouting" trip to see what type of work could be done to help poor people. What we found was two main things.
Most people do not have access to clean water and almost all people who live in the desert region have to walk in excess of two kilometers to obtain water that is still not clean and they must also pay for it. I guess that is how it is when you live in a desert and your government cannot afford to drill public wells and has to charge money for the water that you do have. The second thing that we discovered, was that almost every family lacked the knowledge or ability to practice any type of sanitation. Conditions throughout the region were beyond terrible and very very poor. Peru is known to be the second or third poorest country of South America next to Bolivia and Columbia.
We visited many areas in August and I documented as much as I could about each individual community. We found one village in the mountains in the region of Huancabamba called Juarez which CUBIT decided to do work at, and is where I have been for the past several days arranging a project to build bathrooms. Brad Charles, the president of the CUBIT Foundation accompanied me on the trip and we were able to get much accomplished. When we arrived, we discovered that there was a project that the community had already began, but was on hold because they needed more materials and money. We decided that instead of starting our own project from scratch, that it would be best to complete the project that the community had already began. Over the next few days we organized and purchased the materials that were needed to complete the project. We contracted all the labor to be done by the local people which was a very positive impact on the community because of the poverty rate.
It turns out that I will be returning to Juarez/Huancabamba in 14 days to make sure that all the work is complete and then I will pay the contractor the money that he is owed. The project was a very big task and was far to much work for only me and Brad to complete, so we decided that this was the best option. The project includes the following; four toilets in an adobe two story house that is in need of water lines (to be run both from the source about 50 meters away, and also to the septic tank that was an astonishing 1/4 mile away from the bathrooms!), concrete floor, divisions between the toilets, a wood floor on the second story, a tank for water to be collected in before arriving in the toilets (this in necessary when there is not much water pressure), water lines for the actual bathroom with valves and such, tanks for the toilets, doors and window for the bathroom, all material for the septic tank which was very large (about 15ft x 15ft).
So if all goes as planned, then the bathrooms will be completed in only two weeks and 400 children who have never had a place to go to the bathroom will have something in their life that is taken for granted by so many people... Make sure to check out pictures at the link to the right (My Pictures). Blessings to all...
Most people do not have access to clean water and almost all people who live in the desert region have to walk in excess of two kilometers to obtain water that is still not clean and they must also pay for it. I guess that is how it is when you live in a desert and your government cannot afford to drill public wells and has to charge money for the water that you do have. The second thing that we discovered, was that almost every family lacked the knowledge or ability to practice any type of sanitation. Conditions throughout the region were beyond terrible and very very poor. Peru is known to be the second or third poorest country of South America next to Bolivia and Columbia.
We visited many areas in August and I documented as much as I could about each individual community. We found one village in the mountains in the region of Huancabamba called Juarez which CUBIT decided to do work at, and is where I have been for the past several days arranging a project to build bathrooms. Brad Charles, the president of the CUBIT Foundation accompanied me on the trip and we were able to get much accomplished. When we arrived, we discovered that there was a project that the community had already began, but was on hold because they needed more materials and money. We decided that instead of starting our own project from scratch, that it would be best to complete the project that the community had already began. Over the next few days we organized and purchased the materials that were needed to complete the project. We contracted all the labor to be done by the local people which was a very positive impact on the community because of the poverty rate.
It turns out that I will be returning to Juarez/Huancabamba in 14 days to make sure that all the work is complete and then I will pay the contractor the money that he is owed. The project was a very big task and was far to much work for only me and Brad to complete, so we decided that this was the best option. The project includes the following; four toilets in an adobe two story house that is in need of water lines (to be run both from the source about 50 meters away, and also to the septic tank that was an astonishing 1/4 mile away from the bathrooms!), concrete floor, divisions between the toilets, a wood floor on the second story, a tank for water to be collected in before arriving in the toilets (this in necessary when there is not much water pressure), water lines for the actual bathroom with valves and such, tanks for the toilets, doors and window for the bathroom, all material for the septic tank which was very large (about 15ft x 15ft).
So if all goes as planned, then the bathrooms will be completed in only two weeks and 400 children who have never had a place to go to the bathroom will have something in their life that is taken for granted by so many people... Make sure to check out pictures at the link to the right (My Pictures). Blessings to all...
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
ALBANIA ROCKS!
What an amazing country I am visiting right now. Definetley one of those countries that all people need to go a visit at least once in their life time. Such a unique place of culture and history and people must not be looked over! My trip now is only going to last a few more days, but soon enough I must partake in a return trip!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Waiting...
I am here in the Vienna airport waiting on the flight to board and then depart back to Atlanta Georgia. I am quite intrigued by the way that people act, think, move, and display themselves while participating in the task of flying on an international flight. There are so many things things that you learn after traveling as much as I have and you see really how much you do know when you meet those who do not.
Things such as long lines that answer no questions, anxiety that is not needed, and running from place to place when there are still hours before the plane departs or even boards. People are quite possibly the most interesting things on the planet. And hey! I am one of them. Perhaps I am more interesting than I know. Perhaps someone is watching me from a ways off....
Things such as long lines that answer no questions, anxiety that is not needed, and running from place to place when there are still hours before the plane departs or even boards. People are quite possibly the most interesting things on the planet. And hey! I am one of them. Perhaps I am more interesting than I know. Perhaps someone is watching me from a ways off....
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
On a long road...
I am only one day away from a very, very long road of traveling. Excitement beyond understanding is bubbling out of my skin. I cannot imagine what I am going to experience or what I might do. Whether I am in Egypt, Germany, Austria, or Albania, I will be doing something to change the lives of the poor. There is no telling what I may see, feel, hear, taste, or smell. Only God knows and I would have it no other way... Blessings to all.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
EGYPT on my Mind...
I am here in Texas counting the days until my trip to Egypt. I will be returning the second week of October and will be joined that first week by my brother Carson. I am so excited to show him a place that is so dear to my heart. I have wanted to take him there for so long and now finally the opportunity is coming alive!
Hopefully he will also have the opportunity to go with me to Austria as well, but that is to be decided.
I also bought plane tickets today and that seems to make something inside of me just spring to life... like the thought of TRAVEL!
Hopefully he will also have the opportunity to go with me to Austria as well, but that is to be decided.
I also bought plane tickets today and that seems to make something inside of me just spring to life... like the thought of TRAVEL!
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Passion
So many times I feel "strongly" about a certain thing. I feel as though in some way or another, that I am connected to this feeling. For so many years I have been "Passionate" about certain things, clinging to them as a leaf holds to a tree. Though the leaf may be only a small part of the big picture (and it is blown about with any disturbance in the air), the tree would not be complete without it. Just as the tree, this world would not be complete without each of us (people) doing that which we feel is our part to do.
What is passion? Wikipedia's definition is that "Passion is the emotion of feeling very strongly about a subject or person." I would agree that this is a true statement and affects each and every one of us in some way or another. But the tragedy is that some never follow their "passion," they follow life looking for money or material possessions and those never carry over into anything except the want for more. Why is it that we do not do what we like, love what we do, and want what we love? Would this world be a little more pleasant if everyone would follow their passion? Would their be those who are hungry, cold, or sick? If we all were happy from day to day, how much more would we be willing to do for our neighbor?
What is your Passion?
What is passion? Wikipedia's definition is that "Passion is the emotion of feeling very strongly about a subject or person." I would agree that this is a true statement and affects each and every one of us in some way or another. But the tragedy is that some never follow their "passion," they follow life looking for money or material possessions and those never carry over into anything except the want for more. Why is it that we do not do what we like, love what we do, and want what we love? Would this world be a little more pleasant if everyone would follow their passion? Would their be those who are hungry, cold, or sick? If we all were happy from day to day, how much more would we be willing to do for our neighbor?
What is your Passion?
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Here in Texas...
"You know you are sitting on the richest acre in the world" Ron said as we drink coffee... I say "what do you mean" me here in this little town of rural east Texas, "I am sitting where more oil has been pumped from any single acre in the world." Ron tells me later that at one time there were 28 pumpers on this one acre during the Korea and Vietnam...producing 80 million barrels of oil per month...
Just think I come to Texas to speak about what is going on around the rest of the world and I get a great history lesson about the very place that I am visiting... There is always something to learn...
Just think I come to Texas to speak about what is going on around the rest of the world and I get a great history lesson about the very place that I am visiting... There is always something to learn...
Friday, August 17, 2007
Our Fruit Will Be What We Are...
Water cannot rise above its own level. Neither can a Christian by any sudden spasmodic effort rise above the level of his own spiritual life. I have seen under the sun how a man of God will let his tongue go all day in light and frivolous conversation, let his interest roam abroad among the idle pleasures of this world, and then, under the necessity of preaching at night, seek a last minute reprieve just before service and by cramming desperately in prayer try to put himself in a position where the spirit of the prophet will descend upon him as he enters the pulpit. By working himself up to an emotional white heat he may afterward have reason to congratulate himself that he had much liberty in preaching the Word. But he deceives himself and there is no wisdom in him. What he has been all day and all week is what he is when he opens his Bible to expound unto the people. Water cannot rise above its own level...
Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. The fruit of a tree is determined by the tree, and the fruit of life by the kind of life it is. What a man is interested in to the point of absorption both decides and reveals what kind of man he is; and the kind of man he is by a secret law of the soul decides the kind of fruit he will bear. The catch is that we are often unable to discover the true quality of our fruit until it is too late.
If we would be realistic in our Christian lives we must not overlook the tremendous power of affinity. By affinity I mean the sympathetic attraction which certain things and persons have for us. The human heart is extremely sensitive and altogether capable of setting up an inward relationship with objects far removed and forbidden. As the needle of the compass has an affinity for the north magnetic pole, so the heart can keep true to its secret love though separated from it by miles and years. What that loved object is may be discovered by observing which direction our thoughts turn when they are released from the hard restraints of work or study. Of what do we think when we are free to think of what we will? What object gives us inward pleasure as we brood over it? Over what do we muse in our free moments? To what does our imagination return again and again?
Just a neat thought that I ran across, what do you think about it...? Good luck...
Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. The fruit of a tree is determined by the tree, and the fruit of life by the kind of life it is. What a man is interested in to the point of absorption both decides and reveals what kind of man he is; and the kind of man he is by a secret law of the soul decides the kind of fruit he will bear. The catch is that we are often unable to discover the true quality of our fruit until it is too late.
If we would be realistic in our Christian lives we must not overlook the tremendous power of affinity. By affinity I mean the sympathetic attraction which certain things and persons have for us. The human heart is extremely sensitive and altogether capable of setting up an inward relationship with objects far removed and forbidden. As the needle of the compass has an affinity for the north magnetic pole, so the heart can keep true to its secret love though separated from it by miles and years. What that loved object is may be discovered by observing which direction our thoughts turn when they are released from the hard restraints of work or study. Of what do we think when we are free to think of what we will? What object gives us inward pleasure as we brood over it? Over what do we muse in our free moments? To what does our imagination return again and again?
Just a neat thought that I ran across, what do you think about it...? Good luck...
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Web Design...
Well, I am attempting one of the harder things that I have ever done on a computer. WEB DESIGN... For all of you designers out there, my hat goes off to you. You are a special breed of talent, patience, and creativity that I hope soon to master, but this trial is turning to be more difficult than I anticipated. Not much more left in my head to write about, just trying to get something up for the "CUBIT Foundation," within the next week or so...
You can check out my progress at www.cubitfoundation.org
You can check out my progress at www.cubitfoundation.org
Thursday, August 09, 2007
We only have today...
What would you do if you knew that this was your last day on earth? How would you live? If this should be my last day on this earth, where should I go? Who should I talk to? Would you take a hike or buy an expensive car? Would you spend all your money or give it away? If you knew that you would not be here tomorrow, would it change your life...
Let me know what you think...
Let me know what you think...
Monday, August 06, 2007
About time...
Well, I figure that it is about time to get back to updating this blog regularly so that all those who are interested can stay informed of what amazing things are happening around the world...
As of right now, I am on the road full time anywhere from Texas to Germany to Egypt traveling around doing whatever I can to help those who need help the most. I am working with "The CUBIT Foundation." This is a non profit humanitarian organization that focuses on Children's feeding programs, water provision (purifying, and providing), and construction. We have done work from the Egyptian desert to the beautiful mountains of Romania, to the big cities of India, and to the Jungle covered mountains of South America. There is nothing stopping us from working in many other places all around the world. As long as there is a need to help someone and we can give it, we will do it.
Today I headed off to school in Newburgh Indiana for a week full of lectures and paper writing... So I will keep you up to date this week of what the plans are for the next few months and try to give a good depiction of the last few weeks that I spent in Peru South America...
Until then,
As of right now, I am on the road full time anywhere from Texas to Germany to Egypt traveling around doing whatever I can to help those who need help the most. I am working with "The CUBIT Foundation." This is a non profit humanitarian organization that focuses on Children's feeding programs, water provision (purifying, and providing), and construction. We have done work from the Egyptian desert to the beautiful mountains of Romania, to the big cities of India, and to the Jungle covered mountains of South America. There is nothing stopping us from working in many other places all around the world. As long as there is a need to help someone and we can give it, we will do it.
Today I headed off to school in Newburgh Indiana for a week full of lectures and paper writing... So I will keep you up to date this week of what the plans are for the next few months and try to give a good depiction of the last few weeks that I spent in Peru South America...
Until then,
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
