Hey, I just wanted to apologize if there was any confusion with my last blog. The story I was talking about was from my testimony, and the events that happened, happened back during Christmas. Since then, things between me and the people involved have been resolved, and it has been good. At the time of the events, I was upset, but I have learned I need to really love people.
Thank you for your prayers and concerns. God bless.

Does it ever feel as if we are going through life, just walking around without any immediate goals in sight? I believe that our goals and dreams can really influence our choices in everyday situations. This has been set on my heart over the past few weeks. Talking with friends on the streets, the kids in the projects, and my life in the next year, the topic of dreams, ambitions, and goals has been a key subject.

I know that as a follower of Christ, He is our goal in life. But that holds a lot of weight, and is far easier said than done. “Do you not know that those who run a race all run, but one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” 1 Corinthians 9:24. It is my encouragement to you that Christ be in your goals and that the journey there be at His service.

I met Ducky last year out at A’ala Park after he had made Chinatown his new home. He is somebody I became quick friends with, because I quickly discovered why people called him Ducky. He comes from Oregon, which is my home state, and had recently come over to do a little soul searching. Problem was, he has kids back home in Bend, and he had run out of money, so he was stuck.

About three weeks after meeting him, he made the decision to admit himself into The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center (ARC). That was one step towards a goal he had set, to get back home to his family. Ducky has tremendous faith, and knows his word. I remember that most of our conversations, it revolved around the Christian faith, his walk, and the Word. He left the ARC about a month into the program, and we lost contact with him.

I was in the park about three weeks ago, and who do I see? Nobody had seen Ducky in the Chinatown area for about four months, so when I saw him I felt a sense of joy. But he looked terrible. Tears in his eyes, dirty clothes, and rugged looking face, I knew that it had been a long hard few months. After talking to him, I realized that he was still pursuing his dream to get home. That was the only thing keeping his hopes alive. Unfortunately, he believed he had run out of options.

Now, this is the power of prayer, and praise to God. Not only did Revolution Hawaii bathe his circumstance in prayer, he had people praying, and I was asking others who didn’t know him to pray that something would open up for him to get a flight back home. I would ask him every time I saw him how things where coming, and nothing seemed to be improving. About a week after we had been praying, he shared with us that prayers had been answered; a one way ticket back to the mainland!

Ducky left last Wednesday, back home to his family, his kids. The road is still long before him, but he never lost his faith, never lost his dreams, and never let go of what God had blessed him with.

In Matthew 6:19-21, Christ tells a very key piece of wisdom. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your heart is, there your heart will be also.”

Please keep Ducky (aka Roger) in your prayers. Thank you so much for the continued prayer for ministry here.

These past nine months, I have learned more about myself than in 20 years of life. Before coming and just absorbing myself in the faith, I had things together. I went to school, had a good job, a girlfriend, I was involved with the church, and believed I was on the right track. Nothing drastic happened, except that I felt the burden of complacency ruling my life. I have been a believer for most of my life, but a nudging kept saying, “Do something different, for Me.” Now, that could not have been anyone but God, because it went against all that I would naturally do. Plus, I had been praying for something more in my life.
So, after applying and being accepted to Revolution Hawaii, I headed out feeling I was on top of my game. I had God in sight, and I was really excited. I didn’t really know anyone, so I looked at this as an opportunity to take advantage of building new friendships.
I finished my spring semester of community college, gave in my two weeks at my job, and decided that it would be best to not be in a relationship, in order that the two of us could grow in our personal relationship with God. As the months wore on, I felt like I was no longer in control of anything back home in Oregon. People I cared about and loved where starting to make dumb choices, and I began to feel as though they stabbed me in the back. I lost my trust with them, and grew in bitterness towards them. The whole time, I thought I was doing the right things by focusing on ministry here, balance a broken relationship, and build new friendships. That is when I questioned God, myself and others.
One of the most important lessons I have learned is that nobody is perfect. Heard that all my life, but it never rang true to me because I was living as though I was perfect. The sad reality hit when I was sitting alone in the mountain, during a time called silence and solitude. I always felt as though I surrendered my life to God, by giving what I thought He wanted. Unfortunately, that was only about a quarter of who I am. The scariest place in life, to me, is anywhere alone.
But something happened in that time of isolation. The anger, bitterness, lust, jealousy, lying, fakeness that I had tucked away in the back of my heart and mind, hoping it would just disappear, came to the surface, and in that moment, I realized those things where the bricks building the wall between God and me.
This is when I experienced the true gift of amazing grace. When I finally fessed up and let go of the chains around my heart, I realized it was God holding the key to the lock.
“As it is written, ‘there is none righteous, no not one.’” Romans 3:10
2 Corinthians 12:9 “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, my strength is made perfect in weakness.’”